Je suis une snob
I know this is totally impolitic, but I have a funny story to tell about one of our recent class participants. First, a little background. Ever since we opened, I have been resisting teaching a French cooking class, because I thought it would lend itself to cooking snobbery, and I can't stand that. However, people kept asking and asking for French cooking. I told them that American cooking IS French cooking, and there's really no reason to learn to make pâté or the other iconic French dishes. We just don't eat those things, despite Julia Child's best efforts. However, a couple months ago Krista volunteered to teach a French cooking class, so I gave in and put it on the schedule.
A few weeks ago, Krista sent me her recipes for the upcoming French class. While I was editing them, I was thinking how fussy French cooking is. French recipes start with instructions like, "Take a very fresh chicken..." Here in the land of the free, we take whatever chicken we get at the store. Plus I was all grumpy about having to look up where to put the accent marks: I know enough French to be annoyed when people get their accents wrong, but not enough to be totally sure of them myself.
As I was helping Krista set up for the class, I was complaining about prissy French cooking, and I snidely speculated that the people who choose to take a French cooking class might not be my favorite bunch. Right at that moment (I'm finally getting to the point of the story here), the first class participant arrived...wearing chef's whites and a beret. I had to leave the room to avoid an embarrassing fit of laughter. Luckily Krista was much more gracious and mature.
However, everyone else got the last laugh, because the class turned out to be totally fun (and the beret guy wasn't snobby at all), and I realized during the class that it is really true that many of the basic techniques of American cooking are embedded in the French culinary tradition. Even if you never make a classic "French" dish at home, learning those recipes will make you a better cook. So the French cooking class is here to stay, and if it makes you have a better time, you are welcome to wear a beret.
A few weeks ago, Krista sent me her recipes for the upcoming French class. While I was editing them, I was thinking how fussy French cooking is. French recipes start with instructions like, "Take a very fresh chicken..." Here in the land of the free, we take whatever chicken we get at the store. Plus I was all grumpy about having to look up where to put the accent marks: I know enough French to be annoyed when people get their accents wrong, but not enough to be totally sure of them myself.
As I was helping Krista set up for the class, I was complaining about prissy French cooking, and I snidely speculated that the people who choose to take a French cooking class might not be my favorite bunch. Right at that moment (I'm finally getting to the point of the story here), the first class participant arrived...wearing chef's whites and a beret. I had to leave the room to avoid an embarrassing fit of laughter. Luckily Krista was much more gracious and mature.
However, everyone else got the last laugh, because the class turned out to be totally fun (and the beret guy wasn't snobby at all), and I realized during the class that it is really true that many of the basic techniques of American cooking are embedded in the French culinary tradition. Even if you never make a classic "French" dish at home, learning those recipes will make you a better cook. So the French cooking class is here to stay, and if it makes you have a better time, you are welcome to wear a beret.
posted by The Cooking Doctor at
9:26 PM
2 Comments:
That is funny. Ah, well, being a snob always has its comeuppance, as snobs of another era would say.
I want a French cooking class. I think its funny someone came dressed as the part.. beret and all.
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