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Are Italian cooking schools a good way to see Italy?

Are Italian cooking schools a good way to see Italy?

Old Jul 22, 2015, 1:04 pm
  #1  
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Are Italian cooking schools a good way to see Italy?

A group of 4 couples are looking at maybe doing an Italian cooking school next year as a way to see Italy or at least that part of it in and around the school area. There are a couple three of us who could care less about the cookin' part and will be interested in seeing as much of the area as we can. Any suggestions or experiences in doing this?
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 9:35 am
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This is hard to reply to without some details. What part of Italy are planning on visiting, when, and for how long? Four couples is 8 people, "but a couple three," don't want to participate. Do you mean that 3 of the couples don't want to participate and this will be cooking class for 2 people?

Taking a cooking class in Italy is not about the cooking. You can't learn how to cook Italian food in a 4-6 hour class. You'll pick up a few tips, but it's mainly a culinary cultural and eating experience. Food is a huge part of Italian culture. You'll start with a walk to the local market, where you'll shop as a local, the instructor will teach you how to navigate a market, why and how they choose certain items and not others, etc.

You will then usually be in the instructor's home cooking a 4-5 course meal while drinking wine, with lots of laughter and entertaining talk about Italian food culture by the instructor, and much of italian culture is about food. Then, you eat what you have cooked. It's a way to experience authentic home made food and to eat in an Italian home experiencing the culture as a local, an opportunity that is generally not given to people visiting Italy.

It will improve your knowledge about cooking certain things like pasta (it's way overcooked 99% of the time in the USA at home, and in restaurants), and it will help you to make better choices when eating at a restaurant, give you some knowledge about what to choose on the menu, etc. You won't learn that much about cooking, because the cooking class is not really about cooking. It's more about the experience of participating in local culture, from the market, to eating in the home of an italian cook.

But it's not possible to provide any recommendations without knowing where you're going.

Last edited by Perche; Jul 23, 2015 at 11:52 am
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 12:42 pm
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Thanks for the input. We don't really know where we may go yet. It was just brought up the other night as a maybe. It was 2-3 people not couples who are not too interested in it except for the wine part. We tend to favor the Piedmont area's wines. Thanks agian
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Old Jul 24, 2015, 8:10 am
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On a whim, a few years ago, I booked a trip to Abruzzo Cibus. It exceeded all of my expectations. The school is in a small village located at the top of a mountain. It is 7 days all inclusive, Transfers, food, accomodations, excursions and wine. Somedays you cook in the morning and eat your creations for lunch, other days you cook in the afternoon.

If you are no much of a cook, don't worry, the skill varies. There are tasks that novices can do and tasks that will challenge more experienced cooks.

http://abruzzocibus.com
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Old Jul 24, 2015, 9:52 am
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Eataly does cooking classes.
Quite an interesting variety.

Check out here (sorry classes pages are only in Italian):

Rome

Milan

Turin
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Old Jul 25, 2015, 7:25 am
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There are several options.

1. Most cooking classes are done by a person who does it in there home. They take you to the market, talk, teach, take you to their home, you cook, drink wine, eat, converse, then drink grappa or limoncello, and have a day living like an italian. This is usually offered by someone who has written a cookbook, used to be a chef, is a chef, someone who used to own a restaurant, is a sommelier, or has some great credential. They will always know enough english to be able to conduct the event in english. At the least, it's something you would check before reserving. Almost all do. If the class includes several couples from different countries, it may be multilingual, with talking in english, french, german, and italian not being uncommon.

2. You go to a class offered by a restaurant, or a place like Eataly. This is not recommended, because the class will be conducted in Italian. Usually it's a famous chef, or held at a Michelin star or similar high end restaurant. The chef may know a little bit of english, but basically, they are not catering to english speakers. They will demonstrate, it will be a visual lesson, the explanations and talking will be in Italian, but it will not be very hands on unless it is a small town in Piemonte or Sicily. You can ask questions in english, and the chef will be able to answer in some broken english typically, but don't expect them to cater to someone speaking english. It will not be very hands on, as in option #1, the chef may just let you slice the vegetables, put some toppings on crostini, etc. These will be more watching than doing. Then you eat, but you will not have played too big a part in preparing the food.

3. A language school. There are language schools everywhere. They have learned that it is profitable to make a small kitchen and to offer an option of a, "cooking class." Language schools will have students from South America, Japan, China, Austria, Denmark, France. They only allow people to speak in Italian, because that's what the students are there to learn. And, the cooking classes are not taught by a real expert. The duty usually falls to whichever language teacher is considered to be the best cook. They are not necessarily professional at teaching people how to cook. These classes can be fun especially if you are a student at the school and are having fun with your classmates, but generally they are awful. Sometimes the food is not even very edible.

4. Cena a casa, o a domicilia, but be careful not to be signing up for take out food. Similar to web based things like AirBnb, Uber, there has been an explosion of people who offer you to come to there house, help them cook, and you eat. This is not like option number 1, generally done by someone who is more or less a professional. These are just offered by plain people or a couple who consider themselves to be a good cook, and they invite you into their home to eat dinner with them, at a very fair price. You help them cook, and you will learn. Unless you are part of a large group, typically there will be 4-5 couples from different couples. The hosts are skilled at making it interactive, despite language barriers. The prosecco and wine flows, and they are lots of fun, and very cultural enlightening. Of course, as with any web-based service, your experience may vary. In Rome there is a guy who is a fully trained chef, and is a working chef at a great restaurant, who has an apartment near the Vatican with a gorgeous view patio. He holds great, "help me cook, then we'll eat," experiences in his apartment. In Naples there are two sisters who bring in a third friend, and you all cook and eat in one of the most stylish apartments in the city. These people do it not just for the money, they really enjoy the interaction. There is a website, and they are everywhere, Florence, Venice, and in almost every medium size town. It's a big thing in Italy. I just don't remember the website. There is a major website for it, just like you can type in AirBnb and a city and find out who is offering an apartment, you can do this too to eat in someone's home.

I would recommend option 1 or 4. This is the way to experience Italy and get to go into a home, and learn the culture and the food, not by taking a selfie in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

If you like the wines from Piemonte, then you are wise. Piemonte kicks Tuscany in the butt when it comes to food and wine. I think that most of the cooking schools there are run by restaurants in cities like Alba, or somewhere in Langhe, with the exception of the city of Torino, where you can arrange a class in a home very easily, just like in any major city.

Everyone knows what UNESCO is, and they name certain cities as World Heritage sites that must be protected. Italy has more world heritage sites than any city in the world. Less well known is that UNESCO also has cities that are considered, creative cities for gastronomy, music, literature, design, crafts and folk art, media, etc. The best are chosen by a panel of experts. The Creative cities for gastronomy in Italy are Bologna, Torino, and Fabriano. Tuscany loses. The regions are Emilia Romagna, Piemonte, and Le Marche.

They just redid another selection, it is not really out there yet, but the choice of the best came down to Alba in Piemonte, and Parma in Emilia Romagna. Parma edged out Alba as the best city to eat at in Italy by Unesco, in what is referred to as the battle between prosciutto and truffles, with prosciutto di Parma eking out the victory.

I don't know what that has to do with cooking schools, but if you prefer the wines of Piemonte, that is where the best wine in Italy is made, and you should consider going there and taking a cooking class, especially if you can get one in an apartment, so that you soak up the culture, and not just go there to take pictures of yourself in front of statues and buildings.
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Old Jul 25, 2015, 9:03 am
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Perche,

For option 1 - how do I find those? Do you recommend a website? Do you have any personal recommendations?
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Old Jul 26, 2015, 6:05 am
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Originally Posted by sophiesophie
Perche,

For option 1 - how do I find those? Do you recommend a website? Do you have any personal recommendations?
Abate city ade you Young to?
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Old Jul 26, 2015, 7:46 am
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Originally Posted by Perche
Abate city ade you Young to?
I think you asked 'what city am I going to?'

I don't know which city yet. I am hoping to go back to Italy this October, but I can't make arrangements yet.

I would select an area of Italy that I haven't been yet, maybe Venice, northern Italy, or Naples, Sorrento, not sure! While I would fly into one of the cities, I would plan to travel to a smaller town away from the city (but I would probably spend part of a day checking out the city!)

I was hoping for a website that lists these kinds of things?
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Old Jul 26, 2015, 9:16 am
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Originally Posted by sophiesophie
I think you asked 'what city am I going to?'

I don't know which city yet. I am hoping to go back to Italy this October, but I can't make arrangements yet.

I would select an area of Italy that I haven't been yet, maybe Venice, northern Italy, or Naples, Sorrento, not sure! While I would fly into one of the cities, I would plan to travel to a smaller town away from the city (but I would probably spend part of a day checking out the city!)

I was hoping for a website that lists these kinds of things?
There are several websites. One is Home Food, volunteers supported by the Ministry of Agriculture. They are an association of about 500 homes where you can cook and eat with a great cook for about 50 euros per person, food, wine, all included. No tipping.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/tr...ugal.html?_r=0

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifest...ry.html#page=1

http://www.classetouriste.be/home-food-italy/

Where it says "Where," just type in the city.
http://www.homefood.it/en/

http://www.newsday.com/travel/eating...omes-1.2591509

http://www.newsday.com/travel/eating...ly-1.2593021#7

Bon Appetour is a good one. You can eat in homes in hundreds of cities in Italy with them. Look at the pictures and read this experience for Rome to get an idea of Bon Appetour, then at the top of the page insert the city you want to go to.
https://www.bonappetour.com/tony/a-t...e-vatican-city

For example, eating in homes in Venice.
https://www.bonappetour.com/s/Venice...31551509999997

Walks of Italy has them. I recommend you look at the video on this website.
https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-to...-cooking-class

In Rome there is Eat With. They range from eating in the homes of Michelin chefs, to regular expert locals, highly screened cooks. They only accept 4% of applicants who want to host home cooking.

http://www.eatwith.com/list/italy/Rome/

http://www.eatingitalyfoodtours.com/...es-with-nonna/

https://www.cookening.com/en/explore/Italy

Since you mentioned you also want to go to small town, consider a cooking class at an Agriturismo, such as Fontanaro, in a small town in Umbria. It's a working Slow Food farm that grows its own olive oil, makes its own wine, grows its own food. You can take a day class, swim in their pool, eat spectacularly. Or you can stay overnight in this small town farm paradise and take more than one class.


http://www.slowcookingschool.com/the-school/
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Old Jul 26, 2015, 6:13 pm
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With Bon Appetour you will get more hands on cooking lessons than Home Food, and the cooks are thoroughly vetted, but either would work. Just explain what you want.
Like this:
https://www.bonappetour.com/simona/l...italian-dishes

https://www.bonappetour.com/walterf6...lass-in-venice

https://www.bonappetour.com/elisabet...at-elisa-house

https://www.bonappetour.com/susanna-...-class-in-rome

https://www.bonappetour.com/francesc...ss-spring-menu

https://www.bonappetour.com/ileana-s...h-a-veggy-chef
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Old Jul 27, 2015, 6:12 am
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Great suggestions! Grazie!
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Old Aug 4, 2015, 11:37 pm
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Please take a look at this link. We did this market tour and meal with Daniela and it was wonderful!

Oops, forgot to add the link:

https://contexttravel.com/city/rome/...italian-dinner

Last edited by gardengirl; Aug 5, 2015 at 9:16 am
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Old Feb 26, 2016, 6:43 am
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I am now seriously planning for trip to Venice the 1st week of September and would like to do at least 1 of these cooking classes. I'd be there 3 nights with 2 full days. (I'll be traveling south after this.)

I read yesterday in a post by Perche, that he prefers not to visit Venice in September - heat, humidity and mosquitos...

Is this a bad idea or can I suffer through it?
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Old Feb 26, 2016, 7:06 am
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Originally Posted by sophiesophie
I am now seriously planning for trip to Venice the 1st week of September and would like to do at least 1 of these cooking classes. I'd be there 3 nights with 2 full days. (I'll be traveling south after this.)

I read yesterday in a post by Perche, that he prefers not to visit Venice in September - heat, humidity and mosquitos...

Is this a bad idea or can I suffer through it?
I've spent a whole week in Venice in September a few years ago. Got bitten by mossies a few times, but not much worse than other places in the Mediterranean. Of course much more humid, they seem to be washing the streets every night with lots of water, everything's wet then...
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