There are many ways to experience a business and to gain knowledge about their practices, effectiveness and behavior. This review represents my first hand experience with Vegan Gastronomy in July 2017. I was fortunate enough to attend as a judge for the "vegan iron chef" challenge for students about to graduate. I spent about half a day on the premises This is a very inclusive vegan cooking school (formerly "Sabor!") - a destination for many aspiring vegan chefs from around the world. The environment is super clean, tidy and very professional. I really enjoyed the dishes and having the chance to provide feedback to new chefs. The owners, Stephanie and Manuel, are very informative, engaging and supportive. They also have a vegan cheese course which looks really outstanding - well worth the trip to Mallorca! I would definitely recommend this course to beginning vegan chefs! read more

Terrible customer service and they bully their students. Could not attend because of covid and would not fully refund the tuition. They gave a small "credit" that I could use for some online courses. Most of the recipes use lots of unnatural ingredients so I would never try to make them again. Don't waste your money. read more

Be aware of this company especially Manuel Lynch. I ordered a product from their website (vegan gastronomy) and it arrive incomplete according to the specifications of the website. I ask them when I will receive the rest and Manuel ask me for evidence of what I received and the packaging. I proceed to send them all the evidence, photos, including the orders details and payment. He didn't believe the evidence was real and threat me as a liar. I told them that's was exactly it arrived and that their company made a mistake, but he never accepted his error and continue believing I was lying. I just ask for the rest of the products but for my peace of mind I ask them for a refund and told him this is not the kind of service a loyal client deserve. He said "Loyal clients have been purchasing 10Kg package sizes for 5+ years". This show this company and Manuel are very ungrateful and take every client for granted unless you buy from them for 5+ years and a huge amount. The bad reviews this company have are real! That's the reason they hide their review section from Facebook. I received the refund but for your peace of mind, don't buy from them anything (Vegan Gastronomy- Free from that) read more

Before you enroll any course with Vegan Gastronomy Culinary Academy, please do your own research to see the qualification of the teaching staff and accreditation of the 'Academy'. The major teaching staff of Vegan Gastronomy Culinary Academy is the founder- Manuel Lynch, the co-founder Stephanie Prather, and Jessica McKenzie that no background information or experienced provided. Other 'instructors' (3-4 worked part-time) are only qualified by the 'Academy' itself by attending their own course. I attended the "Advanced Vegan Pastry Course" in person by paying Euro $3000. The actual length of the advance pastry course was approximate 37 hours (57%) compared to the curriculum (64 hours). There was no advance technique taught: store bought pie crust, filo pastry and choux pastry made by puff pastry. Macaroon instead of Macaron was taught and not even one single classic sponge cake with frosting was made by a student throughout the class. Manuel Lynch harassed student by their race, two Asian students in class was harassed and bullied everyday. They were given very low mark in attitude even we behaved the same. He shouted at Asian student that photo taking was not allowed in class which the curriculum stated that photo taking was welcomed. He manipulated the result of final project by changing his mark as a judge. Questioning and discussion was prohibited in class. We were forced to review the course and he stated that we would not receive our certificate without providing them course review on their website. It was a nightmate and I hoped no one will fall into it... read more

All views are my own- I have tried to give an honest account of my experiences of this school. Last October, I was bought the VGCA cheese making course as a gift, along with a one day Central American course and the pastry course which were both upsold after the time of booking. The one day Central American course was fun, although cooking with Textured Soya Protein took me back to the early days of veganism in the 1980s. At the end of the day, i was taken aside and told that the cheese course had been cancelled, and the mix-up in telling me was due to their business manager (Torilynn) had suddenly walked out, leaving their booking system in chaos. I later found out that others there had been notified of the cancellation over 2 weeks before. Had we been told at the time of the cancellation, we would not have done the other 2 courses, which I think they knew- an example of them deliberately misleading us. We had to wait a considerable length of time for the refund to appear in the gifter's bank account, and there wireman emails chasing the money. Later, some other students were told the course was cancelled due to the over use of coconut oil, and they were redesigning it to launch in the New Year. (Think that was to do with Skye Michael Conroy having designed the course, and then some sort of ensuing falling out.) The pastry course was 'just a bit of fun'- we used soy, refined sugar, margarine and store bought pastry in our recipes. There was a 25% drop out rate- 2 students were expecting more of a raw pastry course. At the end of the 4 days, we were told there would be a big party, with up to 75 people attending. Tickets were sold to the event at €5- another money spinner. In the end, we had to go out into the market to give away the cakes, as about 5 people turned up. There were mixed messages even regarding this, as this was a 'one off opportunity', with another tutor telling us 'we do this all the time.' I met some students who had attended the Level 1 course, previously. There was a high degree of disgruntlement over varying course fees, a 'hell of a lot of washing up', a promise of industry experts being invited to critique their final dishes (one student reported that the only people who showed up were the cleaners) and just general unease over the course. One student ended up in tears, another with a verbal warning... I was later accused of being a spy, trying to steal their ideas, and was subsequently banned from their recipe dashboard. I was badmouthed and criticised to my new employer, which could have cost me my job. I used flattery to eventually gain an apology- saying that I found the school's tutors 'inspirational.' I did not, but it worked and I got my apology. I also made it clear that no-one from the school should ever contact me again, so if this happens now, as a consequence of this review, it will be reported to the Police as harassment. If you want to learn how to make 'bacon' out of banana skins, this is the school for you. Me, I have been left with a very bitter taste in my mouth, and am horrified at the number of other former students with similar experiences. AVOID. read more

I would strongly caution against an involvement with Vegan Gastronomy (now Free From That). The customer service is appalling - uncooperative, hostile, pushy and arrogant. The course I'd booked to go on was cancelled at the last minute and, with no suitable alternative provided, I was refused a refund. read more

I attended the Advanced Vegan Pastry course delivered by Vegan Gastronomy in Mallorca in October 2017. I went there to learn "advanced skills and techniques" and benefit from the "world's most comprehensive vegan pastry course" as advertised by Vegan Gastronomy. In reality the course was far from advanced. It didn't deliver the promised recipes as Vegan Gastronomy didn't inform prior to booking that store bought pastries/doughs will be used during the course. So we "learned" to make baklava roses from store bought filo, used shop bought puff pastry to make "choux puffs" and filled Mercadona tortillas with tinned beans turning them into burrito muffins. At the same time promised French macarons were not covered in the course "due to the humidity" and other more advanced recipes like éclair or croquembouche not mentioned at all even though included in the curriculum. The "world's leading vegan academy" turned out to be one room space above the market in Palma that during the course was called Vegan Gastronomy though in the last three years it has changed it's name 3 times from Sabor/Vegan Gastronomy/Free From That right now....I wouldn't recommend attending the Vegan Gastronomy for those looking for advanced pastry training. For those interested in more detailed crazy experiences of other Vegan Gastronomy customers, please look up Abby Chan post on FB Aquafaba group. P.s Manuel Lynch, please have guts once to stop twisting reality, you're a service provider charging high price for a questionable service your self acclaimed 'world's leading vegan Academy' is providing, be able to listen to it as customers are the ones to judge how professional or unprofessional you are Update 14.08.2018 After almost a year long negotiations with credit card company I've been thrilled to get back full tuition fee refund (2000 eur) from bank as it also considered Manuel Lynch & Stephanie Prather and Jessica Mackenzie from Australia whose professional email is prettie pinky affair of ADVANCED PASTRY BEING A SCAM! Be careful buying any services from these 3 self acclaimed vegan gurus! read more

I took the pastry course in June of 2017 and it helped change my business. Teachers are comprehensive and detailed. I want to go back as the training is really focussed on helping me improve my business. read more