Cooking courses in the French Alps
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Clients use snowshoes to reach the alpine chalet as opposed to a snowmobile, thereby not emitting unnecessary CO2 as well as protecting flora and fauna ecologically. Tracks are respected and knowledge on local wildlife and arboriculture is shared. Clients walk to venues where it is feasible to do so.
All food is locally produced and, where possible, Caroline personally collects orders from small producers when visiting with clients, to deliver to others when she is going there anyway. This eliminates transport costs for the purchaser and all unnecessary transport emissions.
Any bottles used by clients are collected and disposed of through the nearest recycling unit. Drinkable tap water is used wherever possible. Where natural energy resources are used by producers, this information is shared with clients. For example, cheesemakers who use the leftover whey to create methane gas are recycling their waste to economise greatly on their energy output for their machinery and are environmentally friendly at the same time.
Community
As many local producers are supported as possible, not only in purchasing their produce but in enhancing their skills and reputation locally and much further afield through our clients. Caroline is constantly researching; keeping her ear to the ground and looking for new, enterprising, ecological developers to work with. It takes courage to stand out and be different and stand up for values which are our children’s future. Caroline does everything she can to encourage and strengthen these actions.
Old slate mines are now being used to grow organic mushrooms - a straightforward reuse of a disused industry. Caroline personally collects orders of mushrooms given by people she is going to work with later in the week and delivers them at no charge, thereby eliminating transport costs for the purchaser, boosting sales for the small producer and eliminating extra transport emissions.
We only offer these courses and adventures to small groups of people, minimising physical impact on the environment and being discrete with our presence both visually and orally. 100% recycled paper is used to print our leaflets, envelopes are recycled and Caroline conducts all local meetings on foot from her office which is based where she lives in order to cut down on transport pollution. Suggested local family-run and/or ecologically run accommodation is listed for clients to choose where they would like to stay, depending on the size and distance from the centre.
Children, both English and French, are encouraged to play tasting and smelling games to broaden their vocabulary and memory banks. They also have the opportunity to create a collage from colourful and different textured food products, from lentils and dried pasta shapes to spices and coconut, using flour and water as the glue. Caroline encourages children and adults alike to be collectively responsible for their actions during the adventures - it is about embedding a philosophy and understanding how every little helps in all our lives, both from little people to big people and small actions to large actions.
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