News Travel News This Cruise Line Offers the Chance to Cook With Italy’s Most Famous Pizzaiolo Silversea Cruises offers never-before-seen access to exclusive food experiences, Michelin-starred restaurants, and more, through its culinary S.A.L.T. program. By Melanie Hansche Melanie Hansche Title: Deputy Editor, Food & WineLocation: Easton, PennsylvaniaEducation: Melanie has a graduate diploma in journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a bachelor of arts with a double major in English literature and politics from Macquarie University.Expertise: food, travel, recipes, restaurants.Experience: Melanie Hansche has been the deputy editor at Food & Wine since 2018, where she spearheads both its travel and home coverage, develops recipes close to her heart (crumpets, anyone?), and often writes about her experiences of being a restaurant owner working in food media. Before joining F&W, she was the editor-in-chief of Organic Life at Rodale, oversaw the company's test kitchen, and acted as food director across all its brands. Melanie spent her formative years at one of Australia's most successful food brands, Donna Hay magazine, as its executive editor. Since 2017, Melanie has been the co-owner of Tucker, an Aussie-inspired cafe and general store. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Published on June 5, 2023 Trending Videos Photo: Courtesy of S.A.L.T. Silversea Cruises In the summer of 2022, a small group of eight food-obsessed travelers had the incredibly good fortune to spend an afternoon cooking and eating with Italy’s most famous pizzaiolo, Franco Pepe. The world-renowned chef — featured in the Netflix series Chef’s Table: Pizza — grants a private audience like this at his restaurant outside Naples only a couple of times a year, and the experience is only accessible via Silversea ship. It is one example of the company’s unique approach to culinary travel, curating special excursions that put the cruise line in a league of its own. “S.A.L.T. [an acronym for Sea And Land Taste] offers the things you can’t do by making a reservation on your own; it gives you access to the stuff you can’t plan for,” says the director of the program, Adam Sachs. “And not all of them are bucket-list luxury items — take the casual authenticity of a family showing you how to make a dish you won’t find anywhere else in the world,” he adds. READ MORE: 15 Game Changers Who Are Impacting the Way We Eat and Drink in 2023 S.A.L.T. achieves its next-level experiences by “working with experts who tap into their experts,” says Sachs, a travel writer and former food magazine editor who leans on his relationships with chefs, authors, and wine pros to curate the program. Those experts include the likes of cookbook author and Italian food writer Laura Lazzaroni (who arranged the pizza expedition); historian Jonathan Lerner, who organizes rare sherry tastings in Cádiz, Spain; and American-Caribbean chef and author Rawlston Williams, currently working on The Caribbean Cookbook for Phaidon’s culinary bible collection, who will be joining the ship late in 2023 and again in 2024 for an excursion to Bequia. Meanwhile, over in South America, James Beard Award–nominated food writer Nicholas Gill, who co-authored The Latin American Cookbook with Virgilio Martinez, is currently scoping out exclusive experiences in Peru and Chile for the 2024 season. The program comes to life on two ships, the Silver Dawn and the Silver Moon, through immersive shore excursions as well as an onboard lab, lectures, a restaurant, and a bar. It will make its debut on the new ship Silver Nova this August; one of its excursions will include a culinary tour with the chefs, bakers, and gardeners of the three-Michelin-star Mirazur restaurant in France, culminating with a dinner in the private tasting kitchen of Mauro Colagreco, one of the world’s most celebrated chefs. It’s yet another example of how the company is securing never-before-seen access to thoughtful culinary experiences for its guests. As Sachs points out: “Sure, a guest can get a reservation at this restaurant, but only Silversea gets you access to the chef himself and a private tour.” Meet the 2023 Food & Wine Game Changers De La Calle Tepache | Dia Simms | Fry Away | Great Wrap | Heilala Vanilla | Induction Cooking | Joanne Lee Molinaro | Katie Jackson | Lisa Cheng Smith | Maui Nui Venison | Meherwan Irani | Reem Assil | Rockefeller Center | S.A.L.T. | Theaster Gates Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit