It started with a gift certificate for a North End food tour. Shopping the neighborhood delis and pastry shops of Boston’s Italian district gave Martha Mayo a taste for food travel. She later took a cooking class in Paris, followed by a hands-on demonstration of Beijing duck in China.

“I love traveling in old cities, I love food, and I love art. I’ve always put those things together,” said Mayo, director of the Center for Lowell History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. “Even if you are taking a cooking class in someone’s house, you’re making a more personal connection to that city.”