At The International Culinary Center, You Learn Italian and Spanish Cuisine the Authentic Way. By Studying in Italy and Spain.
Italian and Spanish chefs can spot the inauthentic with the mere glance of an eye. Which is why if you want to learn authentic Italian and Spanish cuisine, The International Culinary Center’s Italian and Spanish Culinary Experience programs are the only place to get real.
The Most Authentic Italian Studies Program in America Takes You to New York and Italy
If you choose our Italian course, we are the one school that starts you for 10 weeks in New York, immerses you not only in the cuisine, but also the language, and then sends you for another 19 weeks to Parma, Italy.
Our program, helmed by our world-famous dean Cesare Casella, covers Italy’s 20 regions as thoroughly as it covers flavors. It introduces you to fundamental techniques, as well as looking at desserts and even wines.
But the true measure of your Italian credentials comes when you board a plane and head to Italy.
Once in Italy, you will be fully immersed at ALMA, The International School of Italian Cuisine led by Gualtiero Marchesi, the first-ever Italian chef to be awarded three Michelin® stars. ALMA is located in the extraordinary Palazzo Ducale in Colorno. Yes, it really is a beautiful palace.
Having studied the language while in New York, you will have the chance to practice on a daily basis, whether in the classrooms at ALMA, working in your stage restaurant, or through day-to-day conversation and life in Italy.
You’ll be able to understand so many more of the nuances that make up Italian cuisine’s biggest secrets. Italians are passionate about food. You’ll see why they’re passionate about their own food—the food from their region, their city, and even their family home.
Introducing the First Spanish Culinary Program Ever Helmed by the Great Chef José Andrés
This is our newest and most exciting addition and will be the most extraordinary Spanish culinary program available anywhere in America. Spanish food has captivated the world over the last few years. And no chef has been more at the forefront of that than José Andrés. José has been a multiple James Beard award-winner, and was voted one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People for 2012. So we are delighted that he is our newest dean and the brains and talent behind our Spanish program.
Helping The International Culinary Center and José create something utterly unique is Colman Andrews, author of Catalan Cuisine, one of the most important books about Catalan cuisine ever written. “He is part of the history of Spain today,” says José.
As with the Italians, the Spanish are crazy about food and passionately defend their local cuisine against all-comers. Which is why our Spanish program will soon involve study in the country itself. Our course will involve immersing yourself in every nuance of the complex and beautiful roots of Spanish cuisine and culture.
Spain has, in recent years, been home to some of the most avant-garde developments that have influenced and enchanted chefs and diners the world over.
This program will embrace everything that led to that avant-garde reputation and will inspire you to be well-versed in everything Spanish. For José and Colman want to discover more apostles who can take the techniques and sensibilities of Spanish cuisine and help them sail around the world. How many times will you get the chance in your life to be a pioneer?
Total Immersionsm in Italy and Spain
It would be inconceivable for a school that prides itself in offering Total ImmersionSM and calls itself The International Culinary Center not to ensure that part of that immersion will take place in the surroundings of local produce, local chefs and, yes, the local sense of life.
Our goal is not merely to have you ready for a world-class Italian or Spanish kitchen. It’s to have you ready to add your own imagination, your own nuances, and your own sense of contemporary taste to cuisines that are as historic and robust as the lands from which they come.