Cooking Classes in Paris

Go to these 2 sites on the web. They are great and really nice. Cook'in with Class and the other one is Meet the French.com. The first one is more expensive, but fantastic. The 2nd one is fun. There are bread shops and chocolate shops to visit. Have you been to the outdoor markets?. They are marvelous and really fun and would give all of you an idea of how fresh and wonderful food is in Paris.I would recommend 2... The president Wilson Market and the Saxe Breteuil Market.If you are interested I can tell you the metro stops and the times and days. A fun thing to do is to get your lunch there and go somewhere to eat it.We always get a bagette, olives, cheese, fruit, homeade desserts and fresh apple juice. They also have wonderful scarves, kitchy little kitchen things and clothes. The porte de Vanves brocante market is fun, also.

I can recommend some short but not necessarily inexpensive cooking classes.

In October, I took 3 cooking classes in Paris.

I took one class at Le Cordon Bleu. If you check their website, they have a section with short classes and you can search by date. I took the market tour and demo. I particularly enjoyed the tour of the market. The class was followed by lunch and a demo by a professional chef. It took the better part of a day. I did not enjoy the demo as much as other classes that I have taken. One reason is that we did not get the recipes. We got a list of ingredients and then had to take notes on the instructions. I found myself not focusing on the demo as I furiously scribbled notes. The chef spoke French, but there was an English translator.

I also took two classes at Cook'n with Class (www.cooknwithclass.com). These classes were expensive but they were very fun, hands-on, and geared towards amateurs. I took a baking class and a dinner class. In the baking class, we learned how to make croissants, pane a chocolat, focaccia, and a filled pastry. In the evening class, we made a delicious 3 course dinner with wine and a cheese course. There were only 6-8 students in each class.

While I was looking for classes, I also looked at two other places that were recommended on tripadvisor. They were Marguerite's Cooking (www.elegantcooking.com) and L'Atelier des Chefs (www.atelierdeschefs.fr). I don't remember the prices of the former. The latter had very reasonably priced classes but they were only taught in French.

Both the big department stores in Paris, Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, have cooking classes. I checked into this at one time (didn't do it, though) and the cost seemed reasonable enough.

You might look for a book out in the last few years. It's by Kathleen Flinn, called "The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry..." It's about her pursuit of a diploma at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. The writing is so-so, and it's a little too life-lessony for me, but it was interesting. Perfectly appropriate for teens.