Cooking Classes

You don’t have to be a gourmet cook to make your own meals in Italy.  You just need some basic cooking skills. You'll also want to allow yourself time to find your way around the nearby grocery store.  But if you enjoy cooking and would like to learn more about Italian cooking you should definitely consider taking a cooking class while you’re there.

I had a fantastic time in cooking classes at Culinary Institute of Bologna (CIBO).  One of Bologna’s nicknames is Bologna the Fat because of all the excellent food the area has to offer.  I was skeptical at first about enrolling online in a cooking class in Italy.  It seemed like a lot of money to spend when I just wasn’t sure how good the class was going to be.  I was glad I took the chance on CIBO.  I had such a great time the first time that when I went back to Italy I not only took more classes, I also took my daughter with me.

Classes are in English so you won't need to brush up on your Italian cooking vocabulary.

CIBO’s classes are hands on.  You learn by doing.  They also teach concepts that you can apply to all of your cooking, not just individual recipes.  Check out their website because they have everything from a single morning or afternoon class, to multi day classes.   Every class day starts with planning.  If you have a morning class you will get to go to the old food market to buy your ingredients.  The cost of ingredients is included in the class.

You won’t need to worry about the cost of a meal on the days you are in class.  Food cooked in the morning class is shared for lunch.  Food cooked in the afternoon is your dinner.  I took 3 full day classes.  I found it was a good idea to eat small portions at lunchtime even though it was tempting to eat more since the food was excellent and plentiful.   This made jumping back into cooking all afternoon easier.

Later in my trip I practiced the skills I had learned.  I stayed in apartments equipped with kitchens and it wasn’t difficult to find similar ingredients. The kitchens didn't have all the cooking tools I was hoping for, but I made the best of it.  I’ll share soon about the travel cooking kit I’ve put together.

Shopping for ingredients:

Shopping for fresh produce at the old market

meat market

the cheese counter