Le Cordon Bleu (Paris, France or London, England)

Tuition fees: from £5000 per course

Le Cordon Bleu is the main, oldest, most important culinary school in the world. This is a place where the kitchen has been turned into a systematic academic industry and where there is something called teaching. And it is somewhat different from ordinary culinary colleges.

Le Cordon Bleu teaches not just how to cook, but above all the understanding of gastronomy that was established by Auguste Escoffier at the end of the 19th century and which made the reputation of French cuisine in the 20th century. Restaurant technology all over the world is based on this philosophy.

The main branches of the school are in Paris and London, the Paris school is more than 100 years old, the London one is about 80 years old. The school has the best teachers, and the London and Paris branches are a single pool of chefs.

I studied at the London branch, the same place as Mario Batali, the New York chef who was named man of the year by American GQ several years ago, and Yotam Ottolenghi, who opened a brilliant cafe with Mediterranean food in London. The London branch is a large four-storey school with bicycle parking in the Marylebone area where Madonna and Sir Paul McCartney live.

Studying at Le Cordon Bleu consists of three courses, each of which lasts about four months (including exams, etc.). You can choose one of two departments - culinary or confectionery. The course includes theoretical, thematic and practical classes.

There is still a slight difference between the two branches: the Parisian school is larger and tougher. In particular, in Paris, students have to wash the dishes themselves, but in London they washed the dishes for us.

Le Cordon Bleu is a school not only for those who have wanted to become a professional chef since childhood. I had a classmate, a Japanese-Brazilian from Sao Paulo, a lawyer, who went to London for two years to study at school. And after studying, he planned to do an internship in restaurants and return to Brazil to manage his own restaurant in Sao Paulo.

My wife, who also studied at Le Cordon Bleu in the pastry department, had a classmate - a fifty-year-old German woman who had been saving money for 15 years to go to school, graduate from the pastry department and open a bakery in Germany.

The main thing that Le Cordon Bleu gives is not the ability to cook or knowledge about food. Each of us collects them in one way or another throughout our lives. Especially for such a “tried” person like me, who, it seems, has been to 5,000 restaurants. But, like any good education, Le Cordon Bleu gives you the opportunity to systematize what you knew or guessed. And, like any practical knowledge, it makes you free.

Where: Le Cordon Bleu Paris, 8 Rue Léon Delhomme, Tel: +33 (0)1 53 68 22 50 or Le Cordon Bleu London, 114 Marylebone Lanes, Tel: +44 207 935 35 03

More information: www.cordonbleu.edu

Quat'Saisons by Raymond Blanc (Oxford, England)

Tuition fees: from £500 per lesson; number

Raymond Blanc is the most influential person in terms of cooking in England. For 35 years he has lived on an estate in Oxford, 15 km from London. And it is the only hotel in England with two Michelin stars. In addition to the hotel and restaurant, there are courses offered by Raymond Blanc, for which you need to sign up two months in advance. Especially for the courses, Raymond Blanc built a small house next to the semi-monastic building of the estate where his students live.

Courses last from one to four days. Lessons and subsequent tastings are held in a fashionable kitchen designed by English and German designers. Six people learn to cook Blanc's recipes four times a week. Classes are divided by topic - “Learn to cook in one day”, “Valentine’s Day dinner”, vegetarian lunch, “Taste and color” (about the characteristics of different products), etc. In addition, a cooking school has been opened for children, where they teach simple things - salads and desserts, for example.

Raymond Blanc's course is the only school attended by Heston Blumenthal, who has been voted world's best chef twice in recent years.

Now, like Heston Blumenthal once did, anyone can sign up with him. And for this you don’t have to be a chef or dream of a restaurant career. This is a course for non-professionals. True, since Blumenthal graduated from them, their prices have increased greatly and now cost £500 per lesson.

I recommend French teachers because I love French cuisine and this cuisine as a technology is most interesting to me. French chefs know more about food than others, and explain everything at the legal level.

There are a lot of English, American yuppies on Blanc's courses who sign up for their own amusement. In this environment, it has become fashionable to cook, they have huge kitchens in their homes, and they want to learn something specific, come home and surprise everyone. I also took one course there, during the class we made steamed crab.

Where: Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Church Road, Great Milton, Oxford Tel: +44 (0)1844 278881

More details: www.raymondblanc.com

Le Pres d'Eugenie by Michel Guerard (Eugenie-les-Bains, France)

Tuition fee: from €210 per lesson

In the French part of the Pyrenees, in the Landes, in a place called Eugénie-les-Bains lives Michel Guerard, one of the best chefs in the world. In the Landes he has a hotel, thermal baths, the Michel Guerard restaurant, which has held three Michelin stars for 30 years, and a large vegetable garden. And the most worthy cooking courses. Moreover, there are programs for ordinary tourists and for professionals. A tourist can come for one day and learn to cook only one dish or lunch - it will take from two to four hours depending on the topic and technology. The topics are completely different - but each lesson will definitely include a gourmet dish, a healthy dish and a local recipe from the Landes region. I stayed with Gerard for a week and took three classes. Gerard raises ducks himself and has his own large farm and vegetable garden. And almost everything is prepared from our own products.

Why do I recommend such places with famous chefs? In addition to the techniques, these chefs have the atmosphere and understanding that art can be made from a set of simple materials. It is this, and not just a duck recipe, that they try to teach their guests.

Where: Eugenies les Bains, Landes, Tel: +33 0558050505

More details: www.michelguerard.com

Barilla Academy (Parma, Italy)

Tuition fee: €300 per lesson

This is the main culinary school in Italy, which was opened in 2004 by the company producing the pasta and olive oil of the same name, Monini. Barilla is the number one pasta brand in Italy and the most prestigious culinary school in the country. And it is located in the most gastronomic place of the country, in Parma, the center of the so-called Valley of Taste. This is a huge educational institution with professional faculties and courses for amateurs and even one-day classes for those who want to make only, for example, “spaghetti carbonara”. In addition to educational activities (fairs, food festivals, support for the Slow Food movement), Academia Barilla also protects producers of national Italian products and fights against the illegal use of original product names. In addition, the Academy has a unique library containing more than 8,500 books on cooking (the oldest dates back to the 16th century) and 30 rare periodicals. Of course, it seems to me that there is no need to learn to cook Italian cuisine after French, because you already know all the techniques. But Italian cuisine also has many fans.

Where: Largo Piero Calamandrei, 3/A (c/o Barilla Center), Parma, Tel: + 39 0521 26 40 60

More details: www.academiabarilla.com

Culinary schools worth studying at