Cooking In Paradise: Culinary Vacations Around the World at Chef2Chef

The book covers a wide range of cooking programs--from budget to extravagant, from half-day classes to three-week programs--in Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, and Morocco. The authors provide extensive information about each program, including its history, information about the region and its cuisine, the instructors, and a play-by-play of how you can expect to spend the time. You can choose whether you want the glamour of cooking with a famous chef (from Jacques Pepin to Marcella Hazan) or the informal fun of cooking like a native (many programs are taught by enthusiastic and knowledgeable home cooks). You might spend five days cooking with Patricia Wells in her Provencal home kitchen, which boasts a La Cornue range, rotisserie, and wood-fired bread oven. There you'll prepare traditional Provencal dishes like Saumon Entier Roti en Papillotte, Soupe au Pistou, and Tarte Tatin. Or you might prefer to spend a week cooking in the kitchens of Tutti a Tavola, a friendly Tuscan cooking school run by four women who open their homes to groups of students so they can experience four distinctly different Tuscan kitchens.

As authors Joel and Lee Naftali write, "If the heart of a home is the kitchen, then the soul of a region is the cuisine." --Robin Donovan

From Publishers Weekly
This handy guide lists and describes recreational cooking programs around the world, with useful information on accommodations, activities for spouses and/or children and prices. The Naftalis (Generation E: The Do-It-Yourself Business Guide for Twentysomething Entrepreneurs) list cooking schools in places as far-flung as Rio de Janeiro, as well as a slew of choices in the U.S. and Canada. The usual suspects weigh in heavily, with numerous programs in Tuscany (e.g., hands-on lessons with Judy Witts Francini of Cucina Divina in Florence). For those with more exotic tastes, there is a spice-oriented tour with cooking lessons in India, offered by Indus Tours, and despite England's drab culinary reputation, it's represented by the likes of the Ashburton Centre in South Devon, whose programs on vegetarian cooking feature Indian curries and "nut loaves." The prose here is generally weak the Naftalis appear to have printed the information provided by the programs with little editing. Recipes scattered here and there are for standards such as stuffed calamari, and introductory sections to each chapter are gushy and insubstantial. Still, this unique and serviceable guide will appeal to adventurous gastronomes. (Apr.) Forecast: In the current heydays of travel and gourmandise, this book provides a rare market-potent combination. Shelved near lifestyle travelogues by the likes of Frances Mayes, it could take off.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reader Reviews
Having attended several cooking schools throughout Europe, I was really looking forward to "Cooking in Paradise". I'm sorry to say that I was very disappointed. While the descriptions of the cooking schools make the reader want to hop on the next plane, the prices of the schools reviewed are prohibitive. I doubt that the average home cook would want to spend $2,500 for a 5 day cooking school, not including international airfare. I had hoped that there would be classes in all price ranges listed, but the majority were very high end. The book is dull in that it has no photographs. There are many glaring errors in the book such as; in one paragraph a school is listed as Devina Cucina (which is incorrect) and in the next Divina Cucina. About two years ago I attended the Podere Le Rose cooking school listed in the book. I noticed that the address listed for the school was an address that was old, the school had moved at least 3 years ago. Of the 5 schools in the book that I decided to research on the internet, 3 of them had incorrect websites and addresses. Did anyone really go to these schools or was this information just pinched from the internet many years ago? The recipes in the book are average but many of the ingredients listed are ingredients which are not readily found in the United States. This book might be enjoyable reading for those readers who are not seriously planning on attending a cooking school, but for those who are looking for a reliable source of information this is not the book for you. Comment | Permalink | (Report this)