Ep 144: Rosa Jackson is a chef in the South of France offering cooking classes and now her very own cookbook!

Rosa Jackson never looked back after tasting her first coffee éclair at the age of four, when her family came to live in Paris for a year.  After working as a food writer for a daily newspaper in Canada, she moved to France in 1995 and founded Paris Market Tours (now Edible Paris), which was the first company to offer tours of the city’s food markets.

Rosa long dreamed of combining market tours with cooking classes, and chose Nice for its vibrant food market and unique culinary traditions influenced by Italy and other Mediterranean cultures. After more than ten years of teaching, her greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that her students from all over the world are now preparing local specialties such as pissaladière (caramelized onion tart), socca (chickpea pancake) and of course petits farcis, the famous stuffed vegetables after which Rosa named her Nice cooking studio.

Always preferring quality over quantity, Rosa has slowly expanded her business to include collaborators who are equally passionate about the local cuisine and culture.

During her parallel career as a France-based food writer, Rosa has edited several editions of the Time Out Paris Eating and Drinking guide and contributed to publications such as Food & Wine, Eating Well, The Financial Times, Australian Gourmet Traveller, and has been a columnist for France Magazine.

In the past few years Rosa has developed a passion for nutrition and she recently obtained a Certificate in Dietary Counselling at the Institute of Health Sciences in Dublin. Her classes are peppered with advice on how select the healthiest ingredients and prepare them in ways that preserve their nutrients and minimize intolerances.

Rosa has published three cookbooks in French with Marabout, a division of Hachette. Her Gourmet Paris guide won the 2007 Gourmet World Cookbook award for best travel guidebook.

She continues to offer custom guided tours of Paris and, from her studio in the heart of Old Nice, a range of French cooking classes for lovers of French cuisine.

Edible Paris - customized food tours in Paris

Les Petits Farcis - cooking classes and food tours in Nice

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Nice cooking classes, Paris food itineraries, food blog, Facebook page and Instagram (petitsfarcis_edibleparis).

Les Petits Farcis is also on Google+. 

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