Cooking Classes in Vancouver

[HBOO]

My sister is moving to Vancouver and I am looking for a birthday present for her. As far as I can understand (without knowing Vancouver too well) she is moving quite close to downtown, in the West End (got that name off google maps).

She loves to cook so I thought that might be something she could do to introduce her to the new city.

If anyone has any suggestions of where to look I would really appreciate. I am kindof under the gun at this point.

[fmed]

South China Seas is finally starting up their classes:
http://southchinaseas.ca/Pages/cookin...
The regional Thai cooking looks very interesting and different.

[vandan]

their site seems to be down for now but if you go to egullet, there was a thread from a few years back as a bunch of regulars from there took that class and all semmed to love it

[twinkienic]

The NWCAV classes are fantastic. I took the serious foodie basics course. You're learning in the professional students' kitchen, in groups no bigger than 3. The focus is on skills, rather than recipes. The teacher is really enthusiastic and has great tips, and the professional stream students volunteer their time to help out so they round the station giving tips. You enjoy a 3-course meal you've prepared with your group paired with wine. They also offer shorter courses or 1-day only courses.

For less of a cooking focus but more of a new-city-introduction focus, Edible BC offers various market tours (Granville Island, Little India, Chinatown) that is guided by a local chef that would be a fun way to see the city. I can't remember if they have a cooking demonstration at the end as well.

[fmed]

I haven't taken this course personally, but some friends of mine have and just rave about it. They said that it wasn't fluffy like most short programs that are available. It is definitely for "serious foodies".

[el_lobo_solo]

Try to snag a copy of the past Saturday (19 Sept) Vancouver Sun, specifically the Arts and Life section. There was a feature story about Dirty Apron cooking school, along with other schools' websties / details.

[Pollo]

Has anyone been to the Dirty Apron classes?....if so how are these?....more show than hand on...or not?

[repartee]

Well, it's not exactly in the West End but in my area of Broadway and Granville, Williams-Sonoma is offering little one-hour freebies at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Not birthday present material but FYI.

[radar]

Try cookshop.ca
They have classes every day. Some are participation and some are demonstration.

[fmed]

Here are a few that offer short programs:
http://www.nwcav.com/ (this is one is good
)http://www.picachef.com/shortprograms.html
http://www.dirtyapron.com/home (new venture from the people from Chambar)

[HBOO]

Thanks for the reply:

First one: all booked
picachef: none in novembber (she moves there Nov 1)
dirty apron: definitely considering...

Any other suggestions? Are you familiar with Quince at all? It came up on Google when I searched.

[fmed]

Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks does cooking classes/demos based on featured books:
http://www.bookstocooks.com/page193.htm

I don't know too much about Quince's cooking classes, sorry.