A Taste of Provence Workshop - book now for June!

A Taste of Provence Workshop on the 22nd of April 2010 was a huge success. So much so that we are already preparing for the next workshop on the 24th June at Cooks Barn near Cambridge, but don't take our word for it, here's one of the many testimonials we received from participants!

"That was truly amazing. This variation of “French on your plate” in association with “Made in Provence” was definitely a brilliant idea!"

We had, until now, enjoyed discovering and preparing various regional dishes. We even had had a Provençal Christmas dinner last year and had all agreed how interesting it was to get to know more about the culture and the language as well as have a go at cooking French specialities.

Francine Rouanet-Démocrate met Christine Vidal of "Made in Provence" at the France Show last January and sampled some of her delicious handmade Provençal products - free from any artificial additives - and also enjoyed smelling handcrafted soaps and enchanting house perfumes. It soon became obvious that if we invited her to our workshops and people had a taste too, we could take them on the way to Provence; for real…

By adding blind tastings (in the form of a friendly competition) to our existing workshop format of mixing language tuition with cooking sessions, we enhanced the whole experience for participants.

The workshop “A taste of Provence” offered a similar approach to that of the usual “French on your plate”. However the changes gave the workshop a whole new dimension.

Starting the evening with an apéritif first. Not everyone was familiar with the taste of aniseed in the “pastis” or the taste of gentian in the “Suze”. Both such
typical drinks for an apéritif in the South of France. Some loved it, some didn’t (the “Marmite” principle). Everyone enjoyed the “tapenades” especially the ones without anchovies….
We shortened the tuition to move rapidly onto the cookery demonstration. While the meal for 12 was cooking, we had fun doing the "blind tasting" competition, that was won by Ross, a young Scotsman with a good nose.

Last but not least, we all sat down to dinner complete with Rosé de Provence, “liqueur de violette”, nougats and “calissons “.

All agreed that this must be the best way to learn French in this country!!!!
Make a note of Thursday 24th of June. We’ll be back! Book your place now.