Italian cookery school

Pasta, gelato, pizza and wonderful wild garlic — what's not to like about Italian food? This summer, kids can try their hand at becoming a carb-happy masterchef — before tucking into their well-earned feast.

By Maria Pieri
Published 16 May 2017, 16:00 BST, Updated 8 Jul 2021, 15:04 BST

Italian cuisine.

Photograph by Getty Images

It's pretty. Green stems splayed; clusters of white star-shaped dangling flowers that could be mistaken for snowdrops. My daughter screws up her nose: "It's a bit… whiffy." It's certainly a scent you might not associate with flowers. "Wild garlic: it's only in season for two months, so use it in whatever you can," says Yvette Farrell, chef and Forest of Dean foodie champion.

She's putting us through our paces at the Harts Barn Cookery School, in the Forest of Dean, on a site dating back to 1068, still with a working cider mill and press. We're here to make pasta, using wild garlic. "It can be added to practically any dish," says Yvette. We combine the '00 flour' (the only kind for pasta-making), add an egg and a little water, then knead, pound and roll the dough. Garlic is added to one dough only; then both are chilled, before being run through the pasta machine. Cook for three minutes, add olive oil and the result is a moreish dish the children can't get enough of.

For a grand day out, try your hand at cooking, visit the picnic area and small lake and sip a cuppa at the award-winning tearoom.

Try it at home

Waitrose inspiration
The supermarket chain offers workshops for kids aged five and over in Salisbury and London in everything from pasta bakes to tomato, mozzarella and basil calzone.

La Cucina Caldesi
At this husband-and-wife-run school in central London, kids aged six and over can join the Italian Mama's Cookery Club classes.

Try it away

Pizza in Naples
Make thin-crust pizza in its birthplace at one of the oldest joints in Naples, run by master chefs. foodtoursofnaples.com

Gelato in Rome
"Money can't buy happiness but it can buy gelato and that's kind of the same thing." Hard to argue with the logic of this gelato-making tour for kids in the heart of Rome. iatravel.com

Published in the June 2017 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK)

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