Patricia Wells is a journalist, author, and teacher who runs a popular cooking school--At Home with Patricia Wells--in Paris and Provence. She won the James Beard Award for The Provence Cookbook, Patricia Wells at Home in Provence, and Simply French. With her husband, Walter, she is also the author of We'll Always Have Paris...and Provence, which was excerpted in the last issue of The Writer's Workshop Review. The French government has honored her as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, recognizing her contribution to French culture. A former New York Times reporter, she is the only foreigner and only woman to serve as restaurant critic for a major French publication, L'Express. For more than twenty-five years she was the global restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune. She is the author most recently of The Food Lover's Guide to Paris and the just released, The French Kitchen Cookbook. Two years in the making, this cookbook is a collection of her favorite recipes and lessons from her cooking classes in Paris and Provence. The 2014 Travel, Food and Wine Writing class will include a visit with Patricia and Walter Wells, at their magical home, Chanteduc, above Vaison la Romaine in the heart of Provence. See details below for more.

 

ow did you come to live in France? Why have you stayed?

 

In 1979, Walter and I were both at The New York Times, he as an assistant national editor, me as a food writer. He was offered a job at the International Herald Tribune in Paris as a deputy editor. We decided to go for two years and clearly have never looked back. We've stayed because it suits us so. Life in Paris is ever stimulating, as is my work. Life in Provence is so full of sunshine and friends, it's hard to think of ever leaving.

 

How did you move from reporting to food writing? Was this a conscious path or serendipity?

 

I look at what I do as reporting. Tracking down great people and places then letting my readers know about them.

 

What do you strive to do as a food writer? What is your goal?

 

My goal is to excite people about great food, whether it's at a restaurant table, a market, or their own kitchen.

 

What other food writers did you learn from? Whom do you admire?

 

I learned so much from Julia Child and continue to share a passion with contemporaries Ina Garten, Dorie Greenspan, George Germon, and Johanne Killeen.

 

How did you get started cooking?

 

My mother was a great cook and I think I learned so much from her by osmosis. I guess I grew up assuming that I would always be surrounded by great ingredients.

 

Was it an easy transition from food writer to teacher of cooking classes? When did you start offering the classes? What was the impetus?

 

I began the classes in 1995 in Provence. I think it was a desire to share all the beauty and bounty of what we have around us here. And after so many years of reporting and researching, I felt that I had information and a point of view to share with students, as well as lifestyle.

 

How has the program grown?

 

Over the years, we have offered a broad range of classes. For many years, we held Fitness Weeks where daily hikes and pool classes were part of the program. My trainer came over from San Diego for the week. I have also held a Fish Week with our local fish merchant teaching us fish skills as well as Wine Week with various experts sharing their knowledge. And since the beginning, we have held a Truffle Extravaganza in the winter, when our local black truffles are at the peak.

 

What is the goal of the Provence class? An introduction to Provençal cooking?

 

I would say my goal is excite people about food, to teach basic skills, to show them how easy and simple good food can be, but also to offer them challenges by baking bread and making puff pastry.

 

How about the Paris class? How does the class differ from the Provençal class?

 

The Paris classes are held in the spring, so we concentrate on spring ingredients: artichokes, asparagus, lamb, strawberries. Some of the recipes are the same as we make in Provence but they vary from week to week. I am always testing new recipes, so students can always take advantage of new discoveries.

 

Why did you choose to update your Paris guide as an iPhone app rather than a book? Did you enjoy the process? How did it differ from doing a book? Is a book to follow?

 

The app just seemed like the most natural way to update the guide. I am working on the book. The app process was/is quite different from the book, in that my team and I served as researchers, writers, photographers, editors, publishers, and marketing office! A lot to handle, especially the marketing. Apple has been great to work with. I love both the app and the book process, both very different, challenging, and rewarding.

 

What's next for you?

 

What's next is the Food Lover's Guide to Paris as a book, as well as promoting my cookbook based on the cooking school, The French Kitchen Cookbook.

She is the author most recently of The Food Lover's Guide to Paris. Download the app for iPhone at http://www.foodloversparis.com

Travel, Food and Wine Writing Class in Provence - May 18 - 24 - Travel writing, Food writing and Wine writing are some of the most appealing genres of nonfiction, calling on all of an author's skills—dramatic scenes, character sketches, concrete detail, point of view, scene by scene construction—to compose compelling, engaging travel narratives. This six-day intensive travel writing class will introduce you to essential techniques of travel, food and wine writing and give you expert, insider advice about how to submit and publish finished travel stories.

 

In addition to learning these skills, you'll meet renowned food writer Patricia Wells and her husband Walter Wells, the former executive editor of the International Herald Tribune, at their enchanting house, Chanteduc, overlooking Vaison. You'll dine at outstanding restaurants, visit some of the world’s best wineries, and explore fascinating historic sights. You’ll enjoy exclusive behind-the-scenes tours unavailable to the general public. Best of all, you’ll receive up-to-date story ideas from local industry experts that you can turn into finished travel, food and wine stories by the end of the course and submit to newspapers and magazines for publication.

 

The six-day travel writing class will take place in Vaison la Romaine, one of the most beautiful medieval hill towns in Provence, and a center of the region's cultural and epicurean life since Roman times. The cost will be $2600 per person, including accommodations and most meals. (Single supplement, $500 per person) Plane fare, transit to and from Vaison la Romaine and some meals extra (see itinerary below). .

 

To enroll, please send me a non-refundable deposit of $800 to 201 Newell St., Seattle, WA 98109. Enrollment is limited to 10.

 

For more information, contact me at nick@thewritersworkshop.net, 206-284-7121, or take a look at my website: http://www.thewritersworkshop.net/travel.htm.