We have tried to address the questions we most often get, but if you do not find what you are looking for, please contact us.
Terms and Conditions
Conditions for Children Participation
We welcome children 12 years old and above in our public classes, provided each of them is accompanied by a participating adult.
The only exception to the number of adults particpating per child is for the croissant class. In that class, because we work in groups of 3, we can welcome two children 12 years and above with only 1 adult.
We can welcome younger children for baking or pastry experiences in private classes.
Cancellation and Reimbursements - Public Classes and Tours
Because we run small groups in our public classes, a cancellation at the last minute is a bit of a challenge for both us and other potential participants who did not get a chance to sign-up because the class might have been full when they looked at it. Hence we have developed the following approach:
First, please send your notification of cancellation as soon as you know to
Second, the following terms apply for cancelling your participation in a public class:
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If you cancel 11 days or more before the class, we will reimburse you fully, no questions asked
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If you cancel between 10 and 4 days prior to the event, we will give you 50% credit toward another class to take any time within the next two years
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If you cancel 3 days or less before a class, we will not be able to refund you, sorry
Please note this cancellation policy will apply regardless of the basis for your cancellation: whether it is because of a flight delayed or cancelled, passport refused at boarding, illness, family loss, terrorist attack, concerns about demonstrations, etc...
HOWEVER, if you can not travel due to COVID related travel restrictions and/or can not attend because you tested positive we will reimburse you in full if you notify us as soon as you know. We will however ask for documentation to justify your inability to join us and the date to confirm you informed us immediately. Short of being informed within 24 hours of you knowing, we will follow the policy outlined above.
Cancellation and Reimbursements - Private Classes and Tours
Please send your notification of cancellation to
Then the following terms apply for cancelling your participation in a private class:
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If you cancel 61 days or more before the class, we will reimburse you fully, no questions asked
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If you cancel between 60 and 30 days prior to the event, we will only invoice you 50% of the total amount
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If you cancel between 30 and 10 days prior to the event, we will issue you a credit of 30% of the total amount to be used within the next 6 months
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If you cancel less than 10 days prior, the total amount is due
Please note this cancellation policy will apply whether it is because of a flight delayed or cancelled, passport refused at boarding, illness, family loss, terrorist attack, concerns about demonstrations, company reorganization, etc...
HOWEVER, if you can not travel due to COVID related travel restrictions and/or can not attend because you tested positive we will reimburse you in full if you notify us as soon as you know. We will however ask for documentation to justify your inability to join us and the date to confirm you informed us immediately. Short of being informed within 24 hours of you knowing, we will follow the policy outlined above.
Minimum number of participants
We require a minimum of 4 participants to guarantee the classes will take place. Hence if you have booked for that number of people, you are sure the class will take place.
And if like over 90% of our clients you have booked as a solo traveler or a couple, do not worry too much though! We have a service level of 97% - this means 97% of our classes end up having enough participants. But sometimes we might have to reach out to ask you if you have flexibility in your travel plans to move to another time so we can consolidate participants; this tends to be more the case in November, January and February when there are a lot less people visiting Paris.
We will let you know at least over 4 full days prior to your class date (for example Monday morning for Friday afternoon) if we believe there is a risk for the class you signed-up to not be guaranteed. In that rare case, we will manage this together to see what alternative might be suitable with your schedule. And of course, should we not be able to welcome you, we will reimburse you immediately.
Specific dietary requirements
While we will try our best to satisfy most special dietary need, we do not guarantee we will be able to do so in all cases. This is particularly true because sometimes we get different requirements which make it virtually impossible to cook something which is French and meets all dietary exclusions.
So we ask that you check with us about any special dietary need prior to booking. Failure to do this might result in us not being able to accommodate your needs but will not warrant a refund if we learn about this more than 24 hours after your booking.
If on the other hand you let us no more than 24 hours after you book and at least 72 hours prior to the class, and for some reason we can not fulfil your specific needs on the day of class you have chosen, we will provide either an alternative date when we can (if at all possible) or a full reimbursement.
Please note that in all circumstances unfortunately we can not accommodate a vegan diet in our regular classes. Dairy free can also be quite challenging as we make extensive use of butter and love to make (delicious) ice cream ...
Classes are in English
Please note that as our public classes are exclusively in English, you need to understand spoken English to get the best out of the class. And because our classes are small group classes, we can not welcome a translator into the class as this would disturb the flow of the course and the experience of everybody.
Attending without participating
Please note that only registered participants are allowed into our kitchens and unfortunately we can not allow observers in our classes, regardless of their age. Please note as well that we are not equipped to take responsibility for any minor at the school who would not be actually participating in the class.
Provence and Loire Cooking Holidays specifics
When and How to Pay:
A non-refundable deposit of half the value of your experience will be required to confirm your enrollment.
You can pay this deposit by wire transfer or with Paypal or with any major credit card.
The final payment will be due 90 days before the class. If the final payment is not made on time, you could lose your reservation and your deposit.
Cancellation Policy:
The class depsoit is a commitment for us to hold your space and for you to participate to the experience, and as such is considered non refundable. Should you cancel at least 120 days before the first day of your experience and have good reasons, we will do our best to refill your spot, and if we succeed will refund you. However, you should also plan to take a personal travel insurance for the risk of cancelation. All cancelations less than 150 days before the first day of the experience you are planning to join will need to handled by your personal travel insurance. You can obtain such an insurance by visiting a local travel agent or on the internet.
In all cases however, if you are able to find people to replace you in the program you were going to attend, we will reimburse you in full for the number of people you will have found provided they actually attend the program.
There will be no exceptions to the above consideration, including in the case of such traumatic events as a death or sudden illness in your family or a terrorist attack somewhere in Europe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are you located?
Le Foodist address is 59 rue du Cardinal Lemoine, 75005 Paris. We are in the heart of the Latin Quarter, in the center of Paris - 8 to 10 minutes walk from Notre Dame. You can find Le Foodist in Google Map or i Map. You can also follow these links for Where we Are and to look at Our Venue.
Are your classes taught in English or French?
All our public classes are taught only in English.
Do you offer classes in other languages?
For private groups, we can offer all our experiences in French as well. And we can offer some of our experiences in Spanish.
Are your classes hands-on?
We do not propose any demo class, and so yes, all our classes are hands-on. This is because we want to make sure you are confident to reproduce what you learn at home, and in our experience the best way to learn is by doing.
In any of our cooking related class, you will start from scratch and will end the class with the finished product of your labour.
In most of our pastry and baking classes you will work in pairs (like in all hands-on classes in Paris); and in our croissant class you will work as two small groups of three - this is our smallest class, and one of the most technical ones. So you will get plenty of individual attention by your Chef. This means that you will be doing the weighing of your ingredients, or making a meringue as pairs. But you will be piping, rolling, filling, decorating, applying egg wash, etc...all individually.
In our cooking classes we try to leverage scale at the prep stage; what that means is that we divide and conquer - so not everybody will peel one of each items we will work that day for example. But all the critical things you need to learn by doing, you will get to do yourself. And the chef will guide you and share tips and tricks throughout the class. For example knife skills as applicable or specific cooking techniques. You can read about this in many reviews.
How old do children need to be to participate?
We welcome children 12 years old and above in our public classes, provided each of them is accompanied by a participating adult.
The only exception to the number of adults particpating per child is for the croissant class. In that class, because we work in groups of 3, we can welcome two children 12 years and above with only 1 adult.
We can welcome younger children for baking or pastry experiences in private classes.
Can we privatize a class?
Yes you can privatize a class. We can accommodate groups small and large, so do not hesitate to contact us with your specific needs (date, size of your group, type of experience) so we can provide you with a quote.
How do you accommodate special dietary needs?
While we will try our best to satisfy most special dietary need, we do not guarantee we will be able to do so in all cases. This is particularly true because sometimes we get different requirements which make it virtually impossible to cook something which is French and meets all dietary exclusions.
So we ask that you check with us about any special dietary need prior to booking. Failure to do this might result in us not being able to accommodate your needs but will not warrant a refund if we learn about this more than 24 hours after your booking.
If on the other hand you let us no more than 24 hours after you book and at least 72 hours prior to the class, and for some reason we can not fulfil your specific needs on the day of class you have chosen, we will provide either an alternative date when we can (if at all possible) or a full reimbursement.
Please note that in all circumstances unfortunately we can not accommodate a vegan diet in our regular classes. Dairy free can also be quite challenging as we make extensive use of butter and love to make (delicious) ice cream ...
This means you need to make sure you ask either before you sign-up or as soon as you sign-up whether we can accommodate your restrictions. If you do so, and for some reason we can not fulfil your specific needs on the day of class you have chosen, we will provide either an alternative date when we can (if we can) or a full reimbursement.
In all circumstances though, please note that as we offer traditional French cuisine, we can not accommodate a vegan diet. But most times we can accommodate a vegetarian if you eat dairy and eggs. We also offer a vegetarian cooking class.
If I take a cooking class, can somebody join me for the meal?
Yes, it might be possible for that special somebody to experience the meal with you. We can propose this for 45 Euros per person joining you. But we need to know about it ahead of time to confirm it is feasible on the particular day you will be joining for reasons of space.
Can I take pictures and/or videos of my experience?
Yes, provided the other participants agree and you agree Le Foodist has the copyright for all images taken at Le Foodist.
Do you provide recipes during or after the class?
We will definitely send you recipes of what you prepared after the class.
But in most of our classes though we will not be providing you recipes during the class. Except possibly the list of ingredients for the weighing part of the class. This is because we believe people should be focused on observing, doing and clarifying by asking questions rather than simply reading the recipes - which can be done outside of the school.
But if you want to take notes you are welcome to bring your own pen and paper to do so.
How far is your school from my hotel?
The best way to find out how to get to us from where you will be staying or coming from is to use Google Maps; follow this link, type in the address where you will be staying and choose how you want to get to us (metro, taxi, walk).
Do I need to bring anything?
We will provide all cooking equipment, water, and apron. After the class you will get to taste what you have made - with tea or coffee for most pastry and baking classes, with a glass of sweet white wine as well for the French dessert class and a glass of red wine for the French bread class. And you will also get white and red wine served with your meal after any of our cooking classes.
We will also send you your recipes within 24 hours of your attendance of the class.
However if you want to take notes during the class, you can take videos and/or photos (see the point on this in this FAQs section) or you can bring pen and paper to do so.
Can I attend the class in a wheel chair?
While you will be able to enter Le Foodist if coming in a wheel chair, you should know that at this stage the structure of the tables on which we work is such that unfortunately it would not be possible for you to participate in a class. Furthermore our toilets are located in the basement, which is not wheel chair accessible.
What happens to what we forget?
We will ship it to you for a 50 Euros charge + shipping costs.
Here is why: sometimes people forget something at Le Foodist (a watch, glasses, etc...). Usually it was left n the pocket of their apron, but also in the area which we use as cloakroom. When people contact us about it we must then locate the good - which might require going through 10's of aprons - at Le Foodist or at the dry cleaner. If we are lucky we find what was forgotten. We then need to go the post office to get a quote for shipping. We then need to get approval from you on the cost of shipping (which is usually higher than people expect). And finally we go back to the post office to send what has been forgotten - if you decide it is worthwhile. This actually takes a significant amount of time from a very lean team. So we have established that we charge a 50 Euros service fee for doing so (on top of the shipping costs) - and please note 20% o fthat goes straight to the French governement; so effectively 40 Euros is what we retribute ourselves for going back and forth multiple times to different locations.
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