Courses in Cooking

Given its reputation as a culinary mecca, it's no surprise that Paris is home to a range of excellent cooking schools, many of which offer courses in English. In addition to its nine-month "Classic Cycle" course, Le Cordon Bleu (01-53-68-22-50 and 800-457-CHEF) has several short classes, from a month long introduction to French gastronomy and single demonstration classes to market tours and one-day workshops. Patricia Wells, the American-born food critic for the International Herald Tribune, runs five-day cooking classes from a former artist's atelier in St.-Germain. Geared to the home cook, the programs include visits to markets, bakeries, and cheese and wine shops; oil and wine tastings; and the hands-on preparation of lunch. Named for Auguste Escoffier, the original chef at the Ritz, the very professional Ritz-Escoffier École de Gastronomie Française (01-43-16-30-50 and 888-801-1126) offers classes at a variety of levels, from half-day demonstration lessons to a 30-week program leading to a Grand Diplôme. Classes are small and have the gloss of luxury, down to the "Hôtel Ritz", embroidered cooking whites…and the tuition. Paule Caillat, a friendly, perfectly bilingual Parisian, leads Promenades Gourmandes (01-48-04-56-84), day or half-day courses for a maximum of six people that include a market visit, a well-explained lesson, and the preparation of a three-course lunch. Caillat's recipes range from rustic dishes to more elegant preparations ideal for special occasions back home. With the goal of promoting consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, Paris-based Aprifel (01 49 49 15 15) has opened a new cooking-school atelier in the heart of the city where the hour-and-a-half long lessons focus on new ways of preparing seasonal produce and conclude with a degustation of what's just been cooked. Matali Crasset, who was Philippe Starck's assistant for fifteen years before striking out on her own, designed the colorful pop-art studio where the lessons are held, and a variety of chefs animate the courses, including William Ledeuil of the popular Left Bank Ze Kitchen Galerie and Pascal Barbot, who's three-star L'Astrance has some of the most inventive fruit and vegetable dishes in Paris. The theme of the lessons changes weekly but have recently included "Everything About Chestnuts," "Long Live Leeks!" and "Fruit Appetizers, Vegetable Desserts." Lessons, which cost $18, are in French, but most ateliers are bilingual French-English.