Mediterranean Cooking School: Culinary & Cultural Learning V

Spain-based Mediterranean cooking vacation and gastronomy education programs, wine school, and culinary tour programs with a difference

What sets us apart?

Experienced, world-class instructors who know and love food, wine, and cooking
A proprietary location in historic Granada with its own elegant teaching kitchen
Hands-on classes combined with informative field trips
Advanced 12-week program in Mediterranean Gastronomy, January, 2009
Wine education

Walking Food Market Tours plus Daily Food and Wine Classes at Casa Azahar. Call +34 958 201 557, +1 902-482-8360, or e-mail to reserve.

The Teaching Kitchen at Casa Azahar

Hands-on Classes in Mediterranean Cookery

Savor the Mediterranean! Casa Azahar is home to the Institute of Sustainable Gastronomy's 12-week education program, and also offer culinary vacations for select groups.

The Institute has partnered with Escuela Carmen de las Cuevas to offer unique and intensive 3 month certificate program, the Granada Semester, a captivating adventure in Mediterranean culture and gastronomy.

Spend a semester living in one of Spain's most beautiful, historic, and dynamic cities. Alongside learning the Spanish language from the experienced teachers, students will receive instruction in gastronomy, food history and culture, working closely with resident faculty and local experts.

By the end of the Granada Semester, students will have a knowledge of Western civilization through the perspective of food, wine, & agriculture. They will understand how the production and consumption of food & drink relate to society, economy, and culture both in the present day and throughout history. A special focus of the Granada semester is Mediterranean food culture, and numerous field trips to food markets, vineyards, and restaurants combined with culinary arts classes will give students irreplaceable first-hand experiences. Each participant in the Granada Semester will come away with a sophistiated knowledge of Mediterranean cuisine & wine, artisanal foods and farm products, and the savoire-faire demanded by today's cosmopolitan society and economy.

The City of Granada and its surroundings province make for an unsurpassed location. Gastronomy and language classes are held in the upper Albaycin neighborhood, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site that also encompasses the Alhambra Palace. Granada Province is the most geophysically diverse in Spain, running from the Costa Tropical to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The area has a classic Mediterranean climate and food tradition, is home to expansive olive groves as well as the highest viticultural area in Europe.

Let us show you the beauty of this energetic and fairy-tale region of Spain.

The Mediterranea Cooking School also offers groups visiting Granada a combination of detailed cooking demonstrations and hands-on culinary instruction in a charming and well-equipped teaching kitchen. The School will customize programs for small groups and for corporate or group getaways and incentives, including wine tours.

"In fact Granada has everything to offer, from the Alhambra and the Albaicin to the intimate corners of nineteenth century Romanticism; from the enchatment of Oriental art to the dawn of the Gothic; from the flowering of the Renaissance to the exuberant brilliance of the Baroque. And if, from the point of view of the Arts, this rich diversity is overwhelming in its vitality without the dominance of one unilateral theme, Nature for her part provides analagous contrasts. In some places there is ruggedness, in other a delicacy full of half-tones; here is a city neither of the mountain no of the plain. The Sierra and the lowland intertwine in a stange arabesque and this gives the landscape both strenth and extraordinary variety. From the foot of the mountains to their summit there is an ascent of more than three thousand meters and from the region of perpetual snow it is possible to descend, in barely an hour, to a coast where every tropical fruit abounds. It would be difficult to find a land richer in variety and contrasts or one evoking emotions of greater depth and diversity."

Antonio Gallego y Burin, Granada: An Artistic and Historical Guide to the City

Museum of Olive Culture, Hacienda La Laguna

The Casa Cueva Apartment at Casa Azahar

Dining Room

Instruction in various culinary styles from master chefs experienced in culinary teaching . . .

The certificate in gastronomy is an advanced culinary program exposing students not only to instruction in technical aspects of cooking, but also courses in food systems, wine, journalism, tourism, culture, and history. The program will emphasize Mediterranean contributions to cuisine and Mediterranean food culture in both Europe and North America. Those entering the program without Spanish language ability will gain it during the course, including taking part in Escuela Carmen de las Cuevas intensive Spanish program.

The New Orleans-based trio of Charles Leary, Vaughn Perret, & Daniel Abel has received critical praise for their culinary talents from Food & Wine, the New York Times, New Orleans Times-Picayune, and the TV Food Network, among many others. Their Trout Point Lodge Cookbook was published by Random House in late 2004. Abel, Perret, and Leary are currently the Chef/Proprietors of Nova Scotia´s Trout Point Lodge and the Inn at Coyote Mountain in Costa Rica. They have lived in Granada since 2002, and travelled, lived, and cooked extensively in France, Italy, Spain, and Turkey for well over twenty years. For more information on the unique backgrounds of these culinary wizards, please click here.

The School boasts a new marble & granite teaching kitchen including a traditional cave cellar and pastry area, numerous terraces including the vine-covered front terrace, all with views of the Alhambra Palace, a rooftop herb garden, and walking access to the wonderful food ingredients of the markets at Plaza Larga and San Augustin.

The beautiful property on Calle San Luis features broad vistas of the famed Alhambra Palace, the Generalife, and the Sierra Nevada mountains, yet remains within walking distance of shops and restaurants in the Albaycin and Granada´s historic center.

The Albaicin District