Last semester, I was a little American fish out of water…the big pond in this case being Paris, France. Also known as the capital of everything that is awesome: art, fashion and food. After visiting the Louvre and observing many fashionable women AND men strutting around, I decided that it was time to experience the cuisine of France.
Being proactive, I signed up for a cooking class with
L’Atelier des Chefs, a prominent cooking school that holds classes in many major department stores (just don’t try shopping for French fashion after you’ve sampled the delicacies…it can get depressing real fast). The class I enrolled in was one of those super-quick group courses in which you spend about 45 minutes at lunchtime learning how to cook one dish. After the dish is prepared, it is served around a fancy table with (of course) wine and bread. And for just 15 euros (about $21)! You couldn’t find a better deal in all of France, especially Paris.
If it sounds too good to be true, it was…L’Atelier des Chefs is one of the few cooking schools in Paris that doesn’t offer translation services or classes held in English. And I know you may be thinking, “What a snotty American…Wasn’t she studying French? Why bother going if you can’t speak the language??” To which I reply: Hey, I had about two years of college-level French under my belt, but come on, cooking terminology is not taught during French 101, or even advanced-level French. I still look up American cooking terms (which, in a wicked twist, are derived mainly from French and Italian words).
So I nervously sweated my way through the class, and I can tell you this: It was the best cooking class I had ever taken. Why? Because it was all about observing! Well, for me at least, since I was the only American, but still…that is the way to become a good cook, through careful observation and participation, not lecturing. Thanks to my French comrades, I can now make mushroom risotto (I know, I know, Italian! But the mushrooms were all French, as were the copious amounts of butter and white wine that went into it) with my eyes closed. In fact, I think that was the most useful skill I got out of studying in France (along with an ability to successfully navigate a metro map).
How about you? Would you ever take a cooking class in a foreign language? Have you? Let’s hear your stories!
Last semester, I was a little American fish out of water…the big pond in this case being Paris, France. Also known as the capital of everything that is awesome: art, fashion and food. After visiting the Louvre and observing many fashionable women AND men strutting around, I decided that it was time to experience the cuisine of France.
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Comments (9)
That sounds amazing! I would love to do that!
That's so interesting, I'm definitely putting that on my to-do list :)
Wow I've never thought of that before! I think I'm going to do that sometime in the future :)
That sounds awesome! I wish I had done something like that when I was living in France!
if i signed up for a cooking class, that means i would actually like to learn how to cook and know how to cook it so i would have to understand what the teacher is saying so unless the teacher speaks english or mandarin, i wouldnt sign up just because i wouldnt understand what he/she is saying so whats the point.
That does sound awesome, and the site has some helpful vids. Thanks for sharing. Deffinetely somethign to think about next time I visit.
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I liked that of the capital of everything that is awesome! Haha, agree with you 100% man, Paris is the greatest place on earth and my experience there, as a result of my work advertising kamagra jelly int he city, was really mind-blowing.
Buy Viagra I prefer a cooking class in mother language!
My mother studied in that French school for almost two years, she of course owns a restaurants now.
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