Jordanians, expatriates take stab at cooking French cuisine through francophone month class

AMMAN — The French Institute of Jordan (IFJ) and the French embassy hosted a French cooking class on Tuesday at Haya Cultural Centre in Amman as part of the ongoing francophone month.

In Jordan as in other countries across the world, francophone month is marked each March with various celebrations of the French language and culture. The Kingdom’s events are coordinated by the French Ministry of Culture and the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, according to the IFJ. 

The cooking class was free and open to the public. “Each year we announce the class, within two hours it books up,” said Ali Khair of the IFJ. 

Ali discussed the “strong link” between culture and food. “We want to introduce a different culture through food, and Jordanians are passionate about food and cooking,” he told The Jordan Times at the event. 

The 12 students who attended the class were given culinary instructions by Alain Benon, the head chef at the French embassy who has been teaching the class annually for three years. 

Participants worked with the chef to prepare three classic dishes of French cuisine: Vegetable clafoutis, asparagus risotto and apple pie with almond cream. 

Jordanian Rand Abu Raideh, who discovered the class on Facebook, told The Jordan Times: “I cook Jordanian food a lot, but I have never cooked foreign dishes, so this is a chance to expand my knowledge.”

For participants Ann Thomas and Paul George who hail from India, the event was a way to spend time together and escape the weekend rain. 

“We really don’t know anything about French culture. But cooking is a nice thing to do as a couple,” they said. 

Ali stressed the importance of the culinary event for francophone month: “In Amman, there are not a lot of traditional French restaurants, and most are located in west Amman, so we want to make the knowledge of French cuisine more available.”