I can't speak to Patricia Wells culinary school, but looking at her website I think that's a lot of money for what you get. I travelled to Tuscany in 2005 and spent a week of that trip at a culinary school. It included lodging at the 500 year old estate; daily classes; three meals a day; daily excursions.
The staff prepared breakfast. During daily classes, chefs gave a history of the dishes, demonstrated preparation, then students prepared the dishes. Most of the dishes were served during our lunch. Some dishes were reserved for the daily dinner. Every afternoon, guides and transportation were provided for excursions to places like Pisa, Lucca, Lerici, Carrara, and Viareggio. While out on excursion, the staff prepared the daily dinner.
I think adjusted for inflation, the price was comparable to what Wells' school charges, but offered a lot more.
Shortly after my trip, a couple from our wine club did a wine and cooking school in France. Their trip was a bit more expensive, but it too was pretty inclusive and had a number of winery visits and tastings.
I really have no issue with her course or whatever she teaches/exposes her "students" to but I think it's strange you can't find a single review (at least I can't seem to after pretty hard searching)
It may just be the demographics. The classes are $5500 -$6000; add travel, lodging, meals, and incidentals and it turns into a $10000 trip. Boomers rather than millennials have the disposable income for that kind of trip. We boomers just don't use social media much with one exception. I don't use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I haven't a clue as to what Snapchat is...just seen references to it in the news.
I rarely if ever post reviews of products or services. And if I do, it's on the manufacturer's site, not Yelp. This cheftalk is the only "social media" I use. All my boomer age family and friends don't use social media with the exception of Facebook. They all think the world wants to see a zillion pictures of their grand babies and dogs...and avoiding all those baby and pet pictures is biggest reason I won't use Facebook.
So it could be those who attended the school just don't use Yelp or similar review sites.
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