French & First Nations Cuisine

Cooking & Wine Tasting Sessions

You’ve never experienced a cooking class like any of these. Unique in every respect, they feature the best of First Nations cuisine, French cuisine, and a combination of the two.

These hands-on classes include learning, recreation, entertainment and fine dining, all in one package. The atmosphere is always friendly, and everyone is encouraged to step up, roll up their sleeves, and get their hands into the food.

A wine tasting of Fort Berens wines is also on the agenda. Although there is no precedence for pairing First Nations dishes with wine, our Chef and the wine-master from our nearby Fort Berens winery will establish the perfect match.

In addition to cooking and fine dining, the one day whitewater rafting trip through the rapids of the Thompson River provides the ultimate rush. The en-route luncheon stop features a gourmet picnic lunch that you have prepared in the Kumsheen kitchen, and that is surpassed only by the best of the Thompson’s legendary rapids.

This course will teach you to use new cooking skills and techniques, traditional food-gathering practices, new culinary ingredients and fine wines. Upon completion, you will be on your way to gastronomic expertise in the earliest of Canadian cuisines: French and First Nations. Of course, you will also become a certified Kumsheen River Rat in the process.

The Ingredients

An integral part of these sessions is the crisp ingredients used in Chef Renaudat’s kitchen. Whether growing on a tree nearby, in a garden at the Kumsheen Resort, in the wild of the mountains near Lytton, or at a local vegetable garden, they will be the best ingredients for your creation, and they will be local and fresh whenever possible.

The Chef

For more than 30 years, our French trained Chef Philippe Renaudat has worked in some of the finest restaurants in France, in Quebec and on the west coast. Ask him about his many impressive credentials and vast experience; find the proof in the dessert – his are the finest we’ve savoured. You’ll be impressed with his skill and talent.