ducasse1 Let one of the chefs at the Ecole de Cuisine Alain Ducasse in Paris teach you the difference while they lead you by the hand to the market and show you what is the best produce that day, before you return to the kitchen to cook it. “One of the important points about some of our courses is that you can honestly be completely useless in the kitchen,” says Emanuelle Perrier, director of public relations for the new cooking school, which opens on Monday, “and still come here and have a good time with us.”

Welcome encouragement to those who might be intimidated by the idea of a cooking class in Paris’s posh 16th arrondissement, headed by a famous French chef known - among other things - for being the first to have owned three three-star-ranking restaurants in three different countries simultaneously. But in his new 700 square-metre space Ducasse wants the atmosphere to be relaxed. “It’s a place to get together in for the pleasure of preparing and discovering food,” he told recently.

Ducasse is also catering to all different types of food-lovers. There are ten different courses, from “Traditional cuisine” to “Escapist cuisine, to “Gourmet cuisine”, with classes for half-a-day or a full day (depending on the subject.) There are two levels : experienced and inexperienced. There are also English-speaking chefs for English-only-speaking students.

Actually, you can find several cooking schools in Paris but Ducasse’s new one offers quite a diversity of subjects : “We have everything from a class for six to 11-year-olds to a class on the gourmet cuisine of Alain Ducasse”.

Not that their mission is to focus on the well-known chef’s style : “Many cooking schools just teach their own style", "we will do that but we will also teach other cuisines from other cultures”. The school also offers wine-appreciation and pastry-making classes.

L'Ecole de Cuisine Alain Ducasse 64 rue du Ranelagh 75016 PARIS

Tel : +33 (0)1 44 90 91 00

Fax : +33 (0)1 44 24 43 81

Email : ecole@alain-ducasse.com

Website : http://www.ecolecuisine-alainducasse.com


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