Cooking ClassesOn our free days in France we will be offering optional cooking classes for passnegers on our Escorted tours. These range in price & all fees will be payable directly to the course.
The French spend a great deal of time both consuming and discussing food. It really is the national pastime. The mentality is - if it is worth eating, it is worth talking about.
Everyone of France’s 100 départements has got its own cuisine specialties and the quality and acclaim of each dish plays a large part in determining the credibility of that département.
Toulouse has its sausage, Normandy has its creamy dishes, Bourgogne has its rich beef stew, Aude its Cassoulet, Catalan its squid and crème catalane, Pays Basque its tomato and capsicum plates and so forth.
Acknowledgement of a region’s dishes generally takes place upon meeting somebody from a different part of the country for the first time. This is Laurent, he’s from l’Aveyron. Ah, Salut Laurent, énchanté, alors, tu viens du pays de la charcuterie.
With such emphasis placed upon the pleasures of the palate it is little surprise that French cooking schools rank among the finest in the world. For a chef to have international credibility it is generally recognised that he or she must spend time in France.
If you have no intention of turning pro but would like to learn the tricks of the trade, then simply taking amateur classes with a chef is a fun alternative. Cooking courses allow students to start with the basics and slowly build up a repertoire of recipes. Usually taught in the chef’s home, they constitute what amounts to a customized experience with generally no more than six students to a class.
A la Carte: You would like to learn and master the art of cooking or simply initiate yourself into the secrets of French gastronomy in an easy, light-hearted way? à la carte offers you : Two or three hour thematic workshops.
Ecole Ritz Escoffier: Created in 1988 at the famous Place Vendôme palace, the Ecole Ritz Escoffier offers a range of courses to begin or perfect one’s training. The professional courses are taught in both French and English. “Ritz Saturdays,” are introductory-level workshops held on Saturday mornings. These focus on the preparation of seasonal ingredients. Two such specialities sessions are the delicous Foie gras or the unique“Truffle” sessions.
La Cuisine de Marie Blanche: For the past three decades, Princess Marie-Blanche de Broglie has been teaching French cuisine and the traditional art of entertaining to the Tout-Paris (rumor has it that Lady Diana took lessons there too). As well as daily programs where students prepare and share lunch, her school offers three diploma courses including the Grand diplôme Princesse Marie-Blanche de Broglie of 20 cooking classes, three pastry groups, five art de vivre sessions, two tastings (French cheese/ French Wine) and a graded final exam.
L’Ecole de Cuisine d’Alain Ducasse With just under 10 Michelin stars to his name and about as many restaurants around the world including at the Plaza Athenée in Paris and Essex House in New York, Alain Ducasse is without a doubt France’s super-chef.
At his Ecole de Cuisine, opened in 2002, his handpicked staff teaches food lovers the famous Ducasse magic. The school offers half, full day and evening courses in cooking, pastry and wine.
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