Help me plan my summer in advance- deliciously!

December 22, 2010 7:15 PM

Any recommendations for cooking school programs for a summer travel experience? I live and work in NYC and have taken rec courses at ICE, FCI etc. Needless to say, they are very expensive. I would like to do the equivalent, maybe in Buenos Aires or somewhere similar. Basically would love to go to cooking school ft but it costs too much and I only have the summer off. Hence, thinking it might be nice to combine interest with travelling and perhaps even spend less than I would staying in New York. (perhaps wishful thinking!). Has anyone done something similar?
posted by bquarters to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

This is not the same as a culinary training program, but the Natural Gourmet Institute offers cooking retreats with classes in health-supportive cooking. I did one many years ago and loved it. I later went on to attend their professional training program. For home cooking, the retreat is totally adequate curriculum-wise and is a fabulous vacation. If you're interested in particular techniques or things on a more professional level, this one's probably not the best bet... but otherwise, I totally recommend it!

The other trip mentioned in my link (to Italy) isn't one I've done personally, but I've taken classes with the instructor and she is AMAZING. Anything she touches is awesome.
posted by hansbrough at 8:14 PM on December 22, 2010

Sorry, the other class is in Turkey, not Italy. Sometimes she goes to Italy -- my mistake! She goes to Mexico, too.
posted by hansbrough at 8:15 PM on December 22, 2010

Mami Camilla is a great bed and breakfast in Sorrento that also houses a cooking school. I only stayed overnight there, so I can't comment on the instruction, but they do have links to several articles on their website. The one at guardian.co.uk gives a lot details about the classes.
posted by soelo at 9:55 PM on December 22, 2010

Best answer: The CIA has "home chef" classes at their napa valley campus. I took a couple of fast track classes a couple of years ago and it was pretty amazing, and in an amazing location. I'd check it out if you are alright with staying in the US for this.
posted by TheBones at 6:27 AM on December 23, 2010

Response by poster: Thank you for your responses, sorry for the delay in gratitude, I am new to metafilter (well, newish) and I wasn't sure how to follow up. I checked out all these responses and they all look great! I am still thinking about my options and given the weather today, the summer is still a ways off. But thank you for all of the great advice and the enjoyable googling that followed. CIA looks really wonderful!
posted by bquarters at 12:32 PM on January 22, 2011