French cooking schools

most renowned English-speaking French cooking schools 

validated cookery schools list 

ECOLE DUCASSE (PASTRY)

Study Type: on-site (regular classroom-based teaching)
Pace: 3 years full time
complete official professional curriculum available online: NO (only different One-off courses from 100$/hour)
Tuition 64000 $ no accommodation, no on-campus housing
location: Yssingeaux France; Meudon France
Application Deadline: September the first 
internship required: Yes
Study Type: online or on-site
Pace: your own pace (online) or 8 months on-site
complete official professional curriculum available online: YES
Tuition: 6,000$ online 
or on-campus program from 16,000$ accommodation on-campus housing included
location: Marseille Provence France, Cassis Côte d'Azur France, Singapore, Taipei Taiwan.
Application Deadline: open all year long for online courses and different dates available for on-site programs

FERRANDI SCHOOL

Study Type: on-site (regular classroom-based teaching)
Pace: Full time intensive 8 months
complete official professional curriculum available online: NO
Tuition 36,000 $ no accommodation
location: Paris region
Application Deadline: September the first

FERRIERE ECOLE

Study Type: on-site (regular classroom-based teaching)
Pace: Full-time 3 YEARS
complete official professional curriculum available online: NO
Tuition 70,000$ no accommodation
location: Ferrières-en-Brie France
Application Deadline: September the first

NOTE: Some renowned cooking schools are not on the list because they are NOT French cooking-school (ESCOFFIER)(Delaware company), or they do NOT provide English speaking cooking classes in France (Le CORDON BLEU Paris) (The courses are taught in French and consecutively translated into English except for Bachelor of Business programs)

Frequently Asked Questions

A Do the schools provide French courses?;

No

Do the schools accept monthly payments?;

None of the online schools accept monthly payments

Do the tuition fees are all-inclusive?;

No some administrative fees accessories, books, and taxes are to be added

Is the full professional culinary curriculum available online?;

Only with the creative cuisine culinary institute online course

Do the schools need some prerequisites?;

Most of the on-site (regular classroom-based teaching) are asking for "baccalaureate" (French bachelor's degree) .

Do the accommodation is included in the price?;

No, except for Creative Cuisine Culinary Institute

Do I become a chef after the program?.

all schools do not give you a chef certificate because they require an internship of 1 to 3 years in addition to their program, but the creative cuisine culinary institute does provide a chef certificate because of their unique evaluation system (the students send pics of their realizations from their own kitchen) and because of their specific quizzes..

Can I find french cooking classes online from other sources?;

You can find a lot of classes and courses online, even for free on youtube, but none are offering complete traditional classic french culinary base education, (and most of them are a partial copy of the original recipe and some are completely wrong, even so they look nice), They won't give you the necessary understanding of the classic bases to be an accomplished chef..

What kind of insurance will I need?;

Students are not eligible for French health insurance except for high education (university).
Students enrolled in the Intensive Professional Programs require extra insurance to cover medical expenses, accident risks, repatriation, and civil liability
those must be contracted in the home county or through private insurance companies in France

What are the expenses to add to the tuition fees?;

based on one Academic Year, the estimated cost of attendance for on-site (regular classroom-based teaching) (non include tuition fees):
Estimated rooming accommodations
$12,000$/Year +
The estimated cost of electricity, water, internet, phone contract, deposit, heating, housing, and local tax
$5000/Year +
Estimated other expenses (living expenses, transportation, books and compulsory equipment, travel, administrative and tax, travel and insurance)
$10,000 /Year +
Estimated Yearly Total cost non include tuition fees scholarship :
$27,000 /Year approximately
.

For online courses, are there certain classes I have to participate in live class time?;

Yes for some and No for some other;
Yes, for example with Escoffier, there are scheduled live discussions each week of the program. In addition, the discussions are archived so students are able to use them for reference in the future
No with the Creative Cuisine Culinary Institute program, you are free of your progression pace.

Do some online schools require a minimum homework working time to complete the program?.

Yes for some and No for some other;
Yes, Escoffier requires 15 hours per week to participate successfully in the program. The requirement includes extra study hours and cooking assignments.
No with the Creative Cuisine Culinary Institute program, they respect your schedule and need, ("you can work in your company at the same time or run your business, or take care of your kids, you are free of your progression pace").

Do some online programs require an industry externship?;

Yes, most of the programs requires a 6-week industry externship
Not at Creative Cuisine Culinary Institute, the accent is given to freedom, ("if you plan to be your own boss, you would certainly prefer to use your time to develop your own business")

Will I be paid during the internship?;

Yes, Interns are paid a monthly stipend of approximately 500 Euros (590$/month)

How do the French Committee of Culinary Education evaluate the schools?;

Every year, the committee communicates a documented file concerning the different cooking school programs and students' feedback. The committee is made of international independent experts in training engineering, food historians, actual students and alumni, new cooking techniques and gastronomy specialists, and highly qualified and renowned chefs.

Do some Schools offer discounts?;

Only the Creative Cuisine Culinary Institute offers a discount (this year for their new program launch)

Do I have to apply for a visa?;

Yes for the on-site (regular classroom-based teaching), the visa can be canceled if you are not coming to the classes.
Of course no need visa for online courses.

Can I have accommodation on the campus?;

It's NOT granted; even if the school owns a campus they may ask you to find accommodation elsewhere.

What is the difference between certificate and diploma or credentials?;

The national credential recognition only concerns the french salary and contract system and the education equivalence (mathematics, science, English level). So at the end of the day, except if you want to be an employee in France in the food industry to contribute to your retirement pension, you don't need a national credential or diploma.
Note: To obtain a CAP (vocational diploma) an international candidate must pass a series of exams, both professional and general (math, science, etc) all in the French language. .