Food & Wine

For people with food allergies, the 400-page book “Let’s Eat Out with Celiac/Coeliac & Food Allergies!” offers guidelines for eating safely anywhere, covering seven international cuisines and hundreds of menu items.

Focusing on 10 common food allergens — corn, dairy, eggs, fish, gluten, peanuts, shellfish, soy, tree nuts and wheat — it showcases common ingredients, hidden allergens and food-preparation techniques used by restaurants. $26.95 from various sources, including Amazon.com. Visit www.allergyfreepassport.com for info.

Cited as of the world’s best restaurants, elBulli, located beside Cala Montjoi bay on Spain’s Catalan coast, will be closed during 2012 and 2013, Chef Ferran Adrià announced. 

In the six months a year the restaurant was open, Adrià worked 15-hour days, and he needs a break. Hinting at a radical format change, he said, “When we come back in 2014, it’s not going to be the same.”

Nine-day/seven-night tour of CHINA. Highlights: Shop Cheng Huang old city in Shanghai/gondola ride in Tongli/Tai Lake in Wuxi/special snack dinner in Yangzhou. Land only, from $699. With air from San Francisco, from $1,199. Single supp., from $280.

China Travel Service (San Francisco, CA; 866/244-6287).

10-day/10-night tour of SOUTH AFRICA (departures through Dec. 13). Highlights: Taste local wines, olives, chocolates/Cape Peninsula/Malay cooking class/game drives in Kruger National Park/interact with elephants in Timbavati. Land, from $7,295. Single supp., from $2,825. Air from New York, from $1,595.

African Travel (Glendale, CA; 877/493-2727).

10-day/8-night culinary tour with “Eat Smart Guide” author Joan Peterson, Sept. 27-Oct. 6, 2010. Highlights: Istanbul’s Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Spice Bazaar/cooking class/Bosporus cruise/gulet day cruise in Gulf of Gökova/Cappadocia/Turasan winery. Land and internal air, $2,995. Single supp., $520.

Joan Peterson (Madison, WI; 608/233-5488).

13-day/12-night, “moderate” walking tour (longest walk, six miles), April 20-May 2, 2012. Highlights: Wine and cheese tastings/two cooking classes/Cinque Terre/13th-century La Castiglia in Saluzzo/Mombracco (“Leonardo’s Mountain”)/Barolo/Turin. Land, $6,390. Single supp., $640.

World Expeditons (Level 5, 71 York St., Sydney, NSW, Australia; fax 02 8270 8401 or phone, in US, 800/567-2216).

Ten-day/seven-night tour with Eat Smart guides author Joan Peterson, Aug. 17-25. Highlights: Cooking class, Istanbul/Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace/Spice Bazaar/boat trip to Princess Islands/Troy/Pergamum/Ephesus/fairy chimneys in Cappadocia/underground city of Kaymakli. Land, $2,950. Single supp. $520.

Joan Peterson (Madison, WI; 608/233-5488, www.eatsmartguides.com).

I love France. It is one of Europe’s most diverse, tasty and exciting countries. It brims with the good life and a special appreciation for culture, music, art, food and wine.

But Americans can feel pretty dowdy when confronted with the casual sophistication of the French, who are matchless when it comes to just about anything suave and urbane. In my early days of touring France, I used to worry about being a cultural bumpkin, but now I embrace it. After all, I travel to learn.

Macau (originally spelled “Ma­cao”) was the last of the Portuguese colonies. On Dec. 20, 1999, after being administered by Portugal for 442 years, Macau was returned to Chinese governance. Today it is a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. 

Here are some reflections on a return visit to France, Oct. 26-Nov. 7, 2013, after four years away.

• The flight on Air France (800/237-2747) from San Francisco to Paris, nonstop, was good as ever. Two hours after dinner, the cabin crew handed out ice cream bars to the passengers.

Unless I’ve been growing taller, which seems unlikely, the seat pitch in economy in the Airbus was screwed down about as far as it could go. My knees were firmly pressed against the seat in front.