cooking course

Cooking course, learning, improving and speaking Italian by cooking

Tastes and Traditions of Puglia 

“Parla come mangi” (…Speak as you eat) a typical Italian saying to push you to speak easily your own language without using special and complicated words. Why not to enroll to our Cooking course? A way to learn, speak, enjoy and improve your Italian language by cooking and tasting the amazing simple food in Puglia.

If you’re bored following complicated recipes and want to put some Italian authenticity back into your cooking, here at l’Acanto we may have the right cookery course for you. Our ‘Tastes and Traditions of Puglia’ course gives you an insight into the food customs or the Puglians. Cooking will provide you more skills to improve your Italian language. That is also one of the best way to learn Italian by eating and enjoying the food like the Italians do.

Puglian families often enjoy a different style of meal every day, according to the day of the week and the season, a custom inherited from their grandparents and ancestors.

Come and learn in Italian how our mothers and grannies cook delicious simple food by using fresh ingredients and lovingly transformed into traditional family meals.

This course is a unique opportunity to deepen your knowledge of Italian language and Puglian traditional cuisine. The course is run by a local Mamma, not a professional chef, but a typical mother who looks after her own family.

The cooking lessons last about two hours and are available Monday to Friday either morning or afternoon.

The choice of menu you are taught is yours. Our specialities are: focaccia, parmigiana, fish, fresh pasta (puglian lasagne), fresh tomato sauce, fresh vegetables antipasti, pure di fave, involtini di vitello alla pignata (in terracotta), polpette, octopus in terracotta. The lesson is run in the Italian language,  that is a practical, informal and delightful conversation with the local Mamma.

Puglian style cooking is very easy and quick, nothing elaborate, and you do not need to have any special skills to start with. Also any specific Italian linguistic skill is necessary, communication comes through the enjoyable food and you will get more learning by doing.

If you prefer to enroll on this course and then to take advantage of a holiday study or a home stay with l’Acanto school, please indicate your choice on the enrollment form.

What some testimonial said about us

“Cooking with Pierangela was something very special – access not just to recipes, weights and timings, but to a philosophy of cooking and eating, as much a discussion about how to live as on cooking technique. Fascinating to hear my chef Pierangela and my Italian teacher Michela discuss subtle differences in how their respective families cooked traditional dishes. I also found out why southern Italians sleep in the afternoon … hard to do anything else after such wonderful meals” Tom K., UK

” I can’t thank you enough for introducing me to the Mamma, she is the most delightful lady, kind and understanding of my inadequate Italian.
I will put it down to one of the most rewarding, memorable days here, over our three months in Mesagne.
I realize it was not a complicated lesson, but what I got out of it was more than enough. I will now have the courage to put these meals I have learnt today into practice. They were Italian meals that I would never ever tried to cook.
I would highly recommend having a cooking lesson with l’Acanto to anyone who is interested, not only for the local food experience but also for the enjoyment of learning Italian.
Your father is a real character and a laugh a minute; my husband  and I really enjoyed his company at the table.
All in all both you parents are very generous with their time and effort put into welcoming someone into their home.
And to take away all the food that was cooked after lunch was amazing.
Thank you again”                     Ruth and John K., Queensland Australia

“The hospitality that was extended by the Puglian ladies was so willing showed their skill in the kitchen was truly amazing. No one experience really stood out. They were truly domestic goddesses”                 Linda S., Chef, Australia

“I spent two mornings with the Mamma learning how to cook Puglia style food in her family kitchen and it was so much fun.  It was fun and I also learned a lot from her.  We did have a language barrier, but in the kitchen we spoke the same language, and it was easy to follow her when she explained recipes and the instructions to make delicious dishes.  All the recipes are made from fresh ingredients or from scratch.  We made homemade pasta and homemade focaccia along with many fresh vegetables and also a veal dish Involtini alla Pignata.  I learned from her it is simple to make homemade pasta and not as complicated and time consuming as most people would think, and the taste is unbelievable.  Worth the time and effort!!  Mamma loves to cook for her family and teaches others how to prepare her favorite recipes.  I spent two hours each morning, watching, helping, learning Italian, and then my husband and I enjoyed the finished product.  If you love to cook or want to learn a few simple dishes from the Puglia region then you must visit and enroll to the cooking lessons at l´Acanto School” Paula M., NY, USA

Fees