Learn to shop and cook the French way with Rosa
A new course starting in 2027

The best French cooks don’t leave home with a shopping list. Instead, they wander slowly through the market, chatting with the vendors and scanning the stalls for the freshest local produce. Strawberries in February? Keep moving. The first field tomatoes in mid-June? Stop in your tracks to consider how best to use them, depending on their level of ripeness.

This spontaneous approach to cooking comes naturally to Rosa, whose life and work has revolved around food markets since moving to France in 1995. The author of the cookbook Niçoise and owner of Les Petits Farcis since 2004, she is passionate about teaching others to navigate their local farmers’ markets and support small producers in an age of industrial agriculture.

Her new one-day class, launching in 2027, features the food of Nice and other French regions, drawing on her 30 years of experience as a food writer and cooking teacher in France. Before moving to Nice, Rosa lived in Paris for a decade, working as a translator at the Cordon Bleu cooking school, reviewing restaurants for international publications, and writing two cookbooks in French. She has visited many French regions over the years to learn about ingredients and to perfect recipes. All of these influences will enter into this one-day masterclass, which is designed to change the way you approach shopping and cooking.

If you think of French cooking as complicated, you will be surprised to find that most of these recipes are surprisingly simple—the kinds of dishes that French people make at home with casual ease. Perhaps tarte à la tomate, made with spelt flour pastry brushed with Dijon mustard; concombres à la crème, a French take on tzatziki; poulet basquaise, a spicy chicken and bell pepper dish from the Basque region; and chocolate-orange mousse, a dessert easy enough for children to make. Our decisions about the day’s menu will be based on what we find at the market that morning, as well as the group’s preferences.

For this class, the group size will be limited to six people, so that each participant can have personalized attention. We will meet at 9am at Libération market to have access to the best produce, to avoid the crowds (and the summer heat), and to have more time in the kitchen. Before the cooking class starts, you will sit down for a merenda, or mid-morning snack, with products from the market.

We will cook as a group, at a relaxed pace, before sitting down to a family-style meal. This style of cooking and eating—which is growing rare in our fast-paced world—creates bonds between people, whether they are already related or only met that day. By 3pm, you will be free to explore Nice and the surrounding area—or to have a well-deserved sieste!

A minimum of two people is required for this cooking class to take place; if the class does not reach the minimum, you will be refunded your deposit. A discount of 10 euros per person is applied to groups of four or more booking together.

To book, scroll through the calendar to 2027 and choose the number of people, then your date.