Prepare Pastries in Paris
...and return home with more than memories
Are you tired of taking endless selfies at the Eiffel Tower, Luxembourg Gardens, or the Arc de Triomphe? Looking for something more satisfying from your vacation?
This summer (2023), France’s premier cooking school Le Cordon Bleu Paris celebrated 140 years of supporting one of the world’s top French language schools, the Alliance Française. Their pastry chefs created an eight-foot edible Eiffel Tower, along with hundreds of pastries and chocolates. Since the 1800s, the two organizations been promoting French gastronomy and culture.
Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School
Julia Child attended Le Cordon Bleu in 1948. But in recent years, anyone can take a course. Why not combine a vacation in Paris with courses at Le Cordon Bleu, or the Alliance Française, or both? Le Cordon Bleu offers cooking classes perfect for your vacation that range from a few hours to one week, or even longer.
[Note: The author is not affiliated with Le Cordon Bleu. He was, however, a student at Alliance Française in a different century.]
The Traditional Breadbaking and Freshly Baked Pastry class consists of four afternoons where you will make different types of baguettes and other breads, as well as croissants and pains au chocolate.
The Art of French Cuisine - Brittany class takes place in one afternoon, and participants like you work side by side with chefs to produce a full dinner typical of the Brittany region of France. An upcoming class includes velvet crab soup, Caribbean scallops, cauliflower, and Brittany flan with apples and rum macerated prunes.
Other short classes (1/2 day or less) include:
Click Here to see a list of all Le Cordon Bleu’s Culinary Workshops.
The Alliance Française French Language School
If you prefer a short course in learning French, the Alliance Française may be just what you are looking for. Check out their Intensive French Compact Course for Complete Beginners in Person. It’s a nine-day class taught 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Monday through Friday (with one day off during the week). The course is designed “…for complete beginners who have never had any contact with the French language. Part of the course is devoted to discovering Paris and current events in France, to get to know and understand French culture better.”
Click here for a list of all their current class offerings.
Impress Your Friends
So don’t go home with bags of Eiffel Tower-shaped pasta for family and friends. Impress them with your new knowledge of the French language and French cooking. Trust me, they will thank you for it.
