The dream life in France: An Interview with The Cook’s Atelier

Have you ever ever picked up a guide and thought “I would like their life”? Effectively, that’s exactly what was forefront of my thoughts when I discovered myself skimming the cabinets of a French Provincial homewares retailer in Tasmania, the place I reside, dreaming of a life in France. The guide was The Cook’s Atelier, a set of recipes and tales from a mom and daughter duo dwelling out their dream life in France.

Oftentimes I ponder about packing up my issues and shifting midway internationally to a city in France. It might be someplace in Provence, I think about, a brief bicycle journey into city from my stately chateau (renovated with love and endurance).

There are movies to this impact. Below the Tuscan solar, for one. It may be set in the Tuscan countryside, however the concept is identical: pack your baggage and restart your life in Europe. Select easy countryside dwelling as a substitute of sophisticated metropolis life.

A Good Yr is one other escapist’s dream should you’re in search of a movie set in France.

However then there are actual world folks dwelling out their actual world goals, having moved to France to reside out their days. Enter Marjorie and Kendall, a mom daughter duo who hail from Arizona, who’re doing simply that.

An Interview with The Cook’s Atelier

After discovering their story, I reached out to Marjorie and Kendall to search out out simply what life is like proudly owning a profitable cooking faculty in France. The mother-daughter duo was immediate to reply, and to my delight, have been already acquainted with World of Wanderlust.

“Your story is the epitome of what World of Wanderlust readers need to learn and someday aspire to,” I wrote. And so started this interview throughout oceans and time zones, to find precisely what life can be prefer to pack up your baggage and transfer to France.

Q: Let’s begin with a quick introduction for readers not but acquainted with The Cook’s Atelier. Who’s behind the cooking school-turned-brand, how did it come to be, and the way lengthy have you ever been in operation?  

We based The Cook’s Atelier in 2008. The idea for The Cook’s Atelier was envisioned a few years earlier than we really moved to France.  We’re initially from Arizona and have all the time been a detailed mom/daughter group.   I raised Kendall as a single mom and our origins are fairly humble.  We’ve all the time discovered it necessary to dream massive and to suppose outdoors the field.  I pursued my ardour for cooking, working my method up the ladder at varied eating places and in the end opened my very own when Kendall was younger.  When Kendall left for faculty, it turned clear that her ardour was France.  After having spent a major period of time finding out in France throughout her faculty years, she started finding out viticulture in Burgundy.  I knew that in the end that was the place she belonged.  After many brainstorming periods and numerous glasses of wine, we determined to completely uproot from our origins and took a leap of religion to create a brand new life in France.  We determined to mix our passions for meals and wine to create The Cook’s Atelier.  We began with no formal marketing strategy, only a robust intestine intuition to create a spot that we might love and hoped others would too.

Q: Congratulations on the success of The Cook’s Atelier! As all the time, an in a single day success takes quite a lot of time, triumphs and tribulations. What have been among the roadblocks or challenges in making a cooking faculty in France?

We’re very pleased with what we’ve got created with The Cook’s Atelier and are actually typically shocked of how a lot momentum it has created by itself over time.  For us, we don’t really feel that it was an in a single day success.  We began off very small, with the principle focus having the ability to help ourselves and keep in France.  The majority of our company have all the time discovered us by phrase of mouth and our enterprise has grown organically.  Being entrepreneurs, we’re all the time making an attempt to enhance and are continually striving to make the expertise for our company much more distinctive and memorable.

Relating to roadblocks and challenges, there have been many.  From securing paperwork to maneuver right here and be capable to keep indefinitely, to navigating the tons and tons of French purple tape in establishing a enterprise as foreigners in France, it has all actually stored us on our toes however we wouldn’t change a factor.  It has simply been a part of the journey.

Q: I learn in your guide there was a earlier (smaller) location of The Cook’s Atelier. How do you know it was time to develop to an even bigger area?

For the primary 5 years, we began off in a tiny two-bedroom flat in the middle of Beaune the place we did cooking courses.  The unique kitchen was the dimensions of a closet so we took one of many bedrooms and turned it right into a makeshift kitchen stuffed with many classic treasures that we had discovered from brocantes, an outdated baker’s desk for prep, and open cabinets lined with a few of our favourite cookbooks.  (The second bed room was mine!).  On the time, Kendall was working with Kermit Lynch and serving to me on the weekends with the courses.

The place was candy and really charming however we quickly realized that it was not doable to proceed to develop in that little flat.  Round this time, Kendall had met her future French husband, Laurent.  He was very useful and all the time supportive in the course of the early years of The Cook’s Atelier and when the time got here to vary the situation, we determined to develop our idea and jumped ft first in creating our small household enterprise.  Kendall give up her job at Kermit Lynch and Laurent joined the group.  Trying again on these first few years, The Cook’s Atelier was a really a lot a little bit micro enterprise and though our idea has since expanded, the guts and soul of The Cook’s Atelier stays the identical and that little residence nonetheless holds a really particular place in our hearts.  We have been lucky sufficient to have the ability to hold it and it’s now our pied-à-terre the place visitor can keep once they be part of us for one in every of our culinary applications.

Q: Are there any massive hopes for the way forward for The Cook’s Atelier, or are you content to maintain working inside the entire success you’ve created?

We’re very grateful that we’ve got been in a position to actually intertwine the concept of labor and household to create this stunning place that we will share with others from around the globe.  For the reason that very starting, we’ve got solely had 10 company at a time and our major idea has been to convey folks from around the globe collectively to cook dinner and collect round our desk for a convivial expertise.  Whether or not it’s a day or every week with us, we try to make every expertise one-of-a-kind and uniquely memorable for our company.  We’re very protecting of holding on tight to that magic.  We have now no plans to get larger, simply higher and higher at what we do.  We’d like to do one other guide and discover the potential of doing a movie sequence.

Q: Your on-line cooking retailer is a good way to have a little bit piece of France at residence. Are your clients largely from France or overseas?

Our on-line store really began for 2 causes. 1)  Friends would all the time ask us the place they may supply our French cookware, cook dinner’s instruments or our classic items that we used in the course of the cooking courses. AND  2)  Over time, we’ve got turn into so obsessed with discovering distinctive French objects for our kitchen and our properties that we developed fairly the gathering.  As we shortly ran out of closet area, we decided it was time to make them accessible for others to get pleasure from in their very own properties.  Our on-line store is worldwide and we get orders from all around the world.

Q: What do you suppose is the American (and certainly many different nations) obsession with France and all issues French? What do the French simply do higher?

For us, we really feel the draw to France is the way in which they strategy life.  They’ve a greater work/life steadiness and have this uncanny capacity to essentially reside absolutely in the second.  They’re very protecting of their boundaries and permit themselves to essentially decelerate.  As People, in any case of those years, we’re nonetheless engaged on it.

Q: What’s it you like probably the most about French delicacies?

What we love most about French delicacies is the accessibility of high quality elements.  It may be one thing as easy and humble as the proper egg, or chickens raised with care.  There may be nonetheless a hyperlink to the place your meals comes from right here in France.  There are artisans who produce the meals we cook dinner; the cheesemaker, the winemaker and the gardener.  French delicacies doesn’t all the time must be fancy or elaborate.  It’s about high quality elements which can be well-sourced.

Q: What’s it you like most about dwelling in France? (I’m certain you possibly can write a guide simply on this!)

As People dwelling in France, what we love most is the standard of life that’s ever-present.  It’s the rhythm of the day-to-day.  The alternative to try to all the time be in the current second and to totally embrace and benefit from the issues that matter most.

Q: Who’re your inspirations in the kitchen?

For us, we’re old fashioned.  After all we love Julia however we’re additionally impressed by M.F.Okay. Fisher, Elizabeth David, and Madeleine Kamman.

Q: Do you’ve any favorite books about life in France and dwelling in France? 

We love ‘My Life in France’ by Julia Baby in addition to ‘Provence, 1970’ by Luke Barr.

Q: If not Beaune, the place else is most interesting to you to reside in France?

Beaune is troublesome to prime as it’s neither too massive nor too small and we’re surrounded by among the most stunning vineyards in the world.

This or That

Q: Candy or Savoury?

Savoury.

Q: Paris or Beaune?

Beaune.

Q: Metropolis or countryside?

Countryside

Q: Wine or cheese?

Each.  You’ll be able to by no means have cheese with out wine.

Q: Italian technique macarons or French technique macarons?

French, after all.

Q: Provence or Burgundy?

Burgundy, however we love Provence and go to usually.

Q: Espresso or tea?

Tea in the morning, however a hand pulled Italian espresso from our store downstairs in the afternoon.

Q: Books or blogs?

Books!

Go to The Cook’s Atelier for extra.