Why you can trust this map
What I check before I send you anywhere
I'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.
- The craft is actually alive there. A working scene, with people who do this every day — not a demo put on for visitors.
- There's a real teacher behind it. Named, still practising, and certified where the craft has certificates.
- The credential is what it claims to be. A state diploma and a certificate a school prints itself are not the same thing. I check which, and I say which.
- I tell you how sure I am. Most pages here are verified by hand. A few say "still checking" — I'd rather admit that than pretend.
- Nobody pays to be here. No commission, no selling the trip. The order on this map is the strength of the community, never the size of the wallet.
- If I wouldn't send a friend, it isn't on the map.
Before you trust any school — mine or anyone else's — ask these five things
- Who actually teaches it? Can you find them by name, with a track record you can check yourself?
- Is the craft alive in that place, or is the school the only thing there? A real scene has more than one good option.
- What exactly do you walk away with — a recognised qualification, or a certificate they printed themselves? Ask which.
- Can you speak to someone who did the course? A real person, not a testimonial on their own page.
- What happens on a bad day — weather, an injury, a teacher who doesn't show? A serious place has an honest answer.
If a place dodges these, that's your answer. It costs you nothing to ask, and it tells you everything.
This is the short version. The full method is here — the six questions, in order, for any craft anywhere.