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You have already planned your vacation, and France is the destination you are on the way to explore. As a food lover, you would like to partake a cooking class to explore the flavorful French cuisine, or experience a wine class and tasting, or indulge in a private gourmet tour completely off-the-beaten paths.
> More informations about cooking classes in France
OUR PROGRAMS IN PROVENCE
• The School in “Les Halles” - Avignon
• Cooking at “Le Marmiton” - Avignon
• Cooking at Gina’s – Carpentras
• Cooking at the Chateau - Lorgues
• Experience the great wines of Côtes de Provence - Lorgues
• French Traditional Cuisine - Cannes
COOKING CLASSES IN AVIGNON
Once in Avignon, you won't want to leave, and the town is too interesting to let you go. Listed as a Unesco world heritage, Avignon is ancient, full of history, art, music and activity. As a gourmet, you will enjoy flavorful cuisine at renowned restaurants and bistrots, and taste the finest wines, cheeses and other specialties from local producers. You will also have good time on partaking a hands-on class and experience the greatest Provencal cuisine.
THE SCHOOL IN “LES HALLES”
Les Halles means “indoor food market”… an enchanting environment where merchants display their colourful and flavourful goods. We couldn’t expect a better place to host a cooking school! In Avignon, Les Halles are simply the heart of the city and the central place where the locals meet each other, make their food shopping, and the chefs are coming there each day to buy the freshest produces. It’s located in the ancient city surrounded by fortified walls.
The School in Les Halles offers a very attracting program including:
• Market visit with the chef: during 30mn you will learn how to choose the right produces to be cooked afterwards,
• Hands-on cooking class during two hours… the right time to cook a three-course meal including a starter, a main course and a dessert,
• Tasting lunch with a local wine follows.
Classes are taught in English, and scheduled only in the morning, from 9:45am to 1:30pm. No cooking experience is required to attend these classes for gourmet amateurs.
The school is operated by the executive French chef Julien C. who owned several restaurants in France before opening his school. Julien speaks a very good English as he has lived and worked in California, Florida and New-York Manhattan for five years in the `90s.
At the School in les Halles, the sample menu you will learn to cook includes delightful Provencal specialties such as: ratatouille tart with fresh basil and sun-dried garlic, salmon “rillettes” with lime, pissaladière (onion tart with anchovies and black olives), rolled sole fillets with asparagus, olive oil and lemon emulsion, fillet of tuna with sesame seeds, tomatoes purée and pilaf rice, roasted peaches in a herbal tea “vervein” juice, aspic of granny smith and tea, strawberries millefeuille and chiboust cream, pistachio and red berries crumble… It smells already good….!
Program price : US$ 235.00 per person for a minimum of 2 participants.
It includes : market visit, hands-on class and tasting lunch.
Program available year-round, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 9:45am to 1:30pm
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COOKING AT “LE MARMITON”
“Marmiton” means a kitchen boy in French… a cute name to qualify this school set in the nineteenth century kitchen of a mansion which has been transformed into a luxury four-star hotel, steps to the Popes’ Palace. The place is elegant and has a soul…
Le Marmiton offers three-hour hands-on classes for amateurs, scheduled in the morning or in the late afternoon. The participants cook around an original wood-fired, cast-iron stove and then enjoy the exquisite dishes prepared, with selected fine wines. Lunches and dinners respect the great “art de vivre à la française”, with the delight of an elegant table dressing.
If Cooking in Les Halles is attracting by its location in the heart of the food market, Le Marmiton offers classes operated by renowned chefs in Provence. It means, that according to the calendar, your class will be under the direction of different top executive chefs such as: Jean-Claude Altmayer, Eric Sapet, Jean-Claude Aubertin, Bruno d’Angélis, Jean-André Charial, Christian Etienne, Jon Chiri, etc.
Program price :
US$ 245 for the morning classes starting at 9:30am
US$ 295 for the evening classes starting at 6:00pm.
Prices include the cooking class and the tasting lunch or dinner with fine wines.
Duration: 4 hours for the morning class and 5 hours for the evening class (lunch or dinner included)
Calendar: Available year-round except in January, July and August.
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COOKING CLASSES IN CARPENTRAS
COOKING AT GINA’S
celebrating the Light Cuisine and the Organic Wines from Provence
Gina has always lived in an epicurean environment, raised in a family of chefs and wine growers in the South of France. Before opening her cooking school in Carpentras, Gina owned a restaurant and wine bristrot in Paris. As a member of the Slow Travel and Slow Food association, she never forgets to take time with her guests, and share her passion for the light cuisine and the organic wines from Provence.
As Gina ownes a lovely B&B in the heart of Carpentras, she operates daily cooking classes in her private mansion. The kitchen is wide with all professional appliances. It’s located at the ground floor of the mansion, and opens to a beautiful private garden where dinners are served at the warm season.
Gina offers hands-on classes for individuals and small groups, featuring typical Provencal recipes that use organic fresh products from the farms and the local markets. Each class is followed by a dinner including an appetizer, a main course, a dessert, a tea or coffee, organic wines and mineral water. Each class is dedicated to a culinary theme : aromatic and wild herbs, vegetables and fruits, olive oil, traditions from the Comtat Venaisin, cheese & wine harmony.
As a wine expert, Gina also escorts half or full-day private excursions to the Côtes du Rhône vineyard.
Program price : US$ 250.00 / person
Duration: 3 hours starting at 6:00pm
Calendar: available year-round for a minimum of 2 participants
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COOKING & WINE CLASSES NEARBY THE FRENCH RIVIERA
COOKING AT THE CHATEAU – VILLAGE OF LORGUES
Lorgues is a beautiful fortified 12th century village boasting a unique Provencal countryside environment with olive groves, oak and conifer forests and 14 vineyards producing the finest Cotes de Provence red, white and rose wines. Lorgues is about an hour to Nice international airport by car, and about 30 mn to the Mediterranean sea and Saint Tropez.. The Chateau is set in the heart of the vineyard, offering a top luxury accommodation and a renowned cooking school set in a lovely country house next to the hotel and restaurant. Need aromatic herbs or vegetables for your recipe ? Just have to pick it up in the garden! It’s all fresh and organic.
Classes are run by executive chef Philip Migot who gained a recognition at Michelin-starred restaurants in France and abroad, before reorganizing his carreer in now teaching the French cuisine and sharing his passion with visitors, in the heart of the beautiful Provence countryside.
Cooking classes are all hands-on designed for small group up to 10 participants and for individuals too. If you are just two, the school welcomes you even for a private class. If you are a single traveler, please contact us to get the calendar.
Classes last three hours, starting at 10:00am. It celebrates the healthy local cuisine made only with fresh and seasonal produces from the garden, the markets and the local producers. Under the chef`s direction, you learn how to cook a three-course meal, in a very friendly atmosphere. You are in vacation and need to have fun. After the class you simply enjoy the fruits of your labor, around the table guests dressed on the terrace under the trees. The lunch includes a tasting of the wines produced at the chateau. No experience in cooking is required to partaking a class, and all gourmet amateurs are welcomed. The school at the chateau is perfect for a family cooking experience.
Besides the cooking class, we suggest you to visit in the morning to the open-air Provencal markets. It’s scheduled on Tuesdays in Lorgues and on Wednesdays in Les Arcs, located 20mn by car to Lorgues.
Price :US$ 295.00 / person
Duration: 3 hours starting at 10:00am
Calendar: available year-round for a minimum of 2 participants.
Single travelers need necessarily to partake the scheduled classes.
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EXPERIENCE THE GREAT WINES OF COTES DE PROVENCE – LORGUES
If the Provence wine is well known for its rose (dry and fruity, it’s perfect for an aperitif or with Mediterranean specialties), the region also produces great reds and whites to be discovered. In Lorgues, located 30mn to the Mediterranean sea, you find the finest Cotes de Provence like Chateau Roubine, Chateau de l’Estello and Chateau de Berne.
Indulge in the great world of Provence wines through classes and tastings. Different programs are offered:
Wine Tasting class, combining a visit of the vineyard, followed by a lecture in the cellar to give a better understanding of the tasting technique, grape varieties, growing grapes how the wine is made. The wine tasting follows the class. Each class is run in English by a wine expert.
Duration : 2hrs 30mn
Schedule : available from March through October, for 2 persons minimum
Price: US$ 115.00 per person
Half-Day class at the Chateau wine school
The class starts at 11:00am by a one-hour visit of the vineyard, including:
• history of the wine and the vineyards of the Chateau dating back to the 19th century
• What is a terroir ? (soil, climate and grape variety)
• Physiological stages of the vine
• The pruning… every thing you need to know about the wine harvest
At noon, for 45 mn, you enter the world of the great wine tasting, learning all about the visual, offactory and gustatory aspects before appreciating the length in mouth and having the final impression
At 1:00pm, your table will be reserved at La Bouscarelle, a nice country-inn where you enjoy the genuine Provencal cuisine (three-course menu with wine from the property, mineral water and coffee)
At 2:30pm, you are granted a one-hour technical visit of the wines storehouses, featuring the aspects of the wine making throughout the vinification cellar (how to get a white, rose or red wine), the sparkling wines process, the ‘champagne” method, etc.
Duration : 4hrs 30mn
Schedule : available from March through October, for 2 persons minimum
Price: US$ 275.00 per person, lunch included
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COOKING CLASSES ON THE RIVIERA
PASTRY & PROVENCAL CUISINE AT THE CANNES COOKING SCHOOL
The Cannes Cooking School opened in the heart of the city, steps to the Palais des Festivals, three years ago. It belongs to the famous Paris Champs Elysees Pavilion, which provide a unique teaching of the French pastries dedicated to gourmet amateurs.
The Cannes Cooking School offers hands-on classes dedicated to a culinary theme such as: seasonal vegetables, fish/shellfish or meat, original menus celebrating the Mediterranean cuisine, pastries. Some pastry classes only celebrate the great French macaroons.
Classes are usually scheduled in the afternoon. The tasting of what has been prepared follows. For the macaroons classes, participants can bring their delicacies. Classes are limited to 8 participants, and taught in both English and French. Single travelers are welcomed
Summer/Fall Calendar
June 5th 2:00pm to 6:00pm Summer pâtés
(mix vegetables & rabbit, tarragon and carrots)
June 12th 2:00pm to 5:00pm Macaroons
July 1st 2:00pm to 5:00pm Macaroons
July 3rd 2:00pm to 6:00pm All about the tomatoe….
July 10th 2:00pm to 6:00pm Summer Flavors
July 15th 2:00pm to 5:00pm Macaroons
July 17th 2:00pm to 6:00pm Original “Provencal Bistrot-style” Menus
July 22nd 2:00pm to 6:00pm Summer Flavors
July 31st 3:00pm to 6:00pm Salty icecreams
(artichoke, gaspacho, peas, asparagus, carots cumin)
Sept. 9th 2:00pm to 5:00pm Macaroons
Sept. 15th 2:00pm to 5:00pm Macaroons
Sept. 23rd 2:00pm to 6:00pm All about the mushrooms…
Duration : 3hours
Schedule : available year-round, except in August as the school closes.
Price: US$ 280.00 per person, tastings included
>> TOP COOKING & LIFESTYLE VACATIONS - Email : info@vacationsandlifestyle.com
> France : 65 rue Ernest Renan, 92310 Sèvres - Tele 011 33/14.4534.8406 - Fax 011 33/14.114.5002
> USA : 304 Newbury Street, Suite 318 - Boston, MA 02115
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