Peter Berley
Main ingredients: Berley has a genius for health-oriented, modern vegetarian. He will, however, teach meat and fish dishes, as well as healthy desserts ("a natural extension of the meal"); he wrote the curriculum and helped create the recipes for the sixteen classes that constitute the core program at the Natural Gourmet, and his new cookbook, The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen (Regan Books/HarperCollins), comes out this week. He's an enthusiastic and generous teacher who tends to keep talking long after the bell rings.

Signature dish: Our menu consisted of pumpkin pâté with pita crisps; mushroom turnovers; endive stuffed with tofu, olives, and capers; three-grain pilaf; chickpea-and-vegetable tagine; and roasted pears with caramel sauce.

Details: Call 914-674-0589. Prices: $125 per person for a three-to-four-hour class, with a four-person minimum (includes food costs). Limit, eight students; Berley will help assemble groups.

Jeri Jackson of DeLoach Delectables
Main ingredients: Using all her own appetizing recipes, Jeri Jackson's classes reflect a healthful approach to food. (Her background includes study at the New York Restaurant School, the Natural Gourmet, and the legendary La Varenne in France.) I attended a class for three couples in a private home. One of the husbands had just returned from the Pritikin Longevity Center, and his medical marching orders dictated low-fat meals, so this class was devoted to nutritious "healthy heart" cooking. Jackson spent a good hour lecturing before the hands-on part of the lesson; in the kitchen, she shared countless tidbits and shortcuts, from how to shred cabbage to how to fold a smart parchment envelope for poaching fish. She planned a rather ambitious meal for this group; if the husbands had been as adept in the kitchen as the wives, we would have sat down to eat an hour earlier.

Signature dish: The tasty borscht with dill-tofu "sour cream" was a healthful substitute for what my grandmother used to make, and the rest of the meal -- poisson en papillote, roasted seasonal vegetables, sautéed broccoli rabe, and scrumptious poached pears in a sesame crust -- was filling, nutritious, and delectable.

Details: Call 212-864-0778 to schedule. Prices: $150 per three-hour session for individual private lessons, plus $50 to $100 for food, and $25 to shop with or for client; $500 per three-hour session for six-to-eight-person group lessons, plus $50 to $100 for food, shopping included.

RESTAURANTS

Many savvy restaurateurs have realized that in the downtime hours of mid- to late afternoon, their staff and facilities can be used for cooking classes. While most of these "tutorials" offer minimal hands-on experience, they provide a precious back-of-the-house glimpse of a professional workspace, as well as an intimate opportunity to dish with the (sometimes celebrity) chef.

Zoë
Main ingredients: If you get a voyeuristic thrill from observing a working restaurant kitchen, you'll thoroughly enjoy the classes at this New American eatery in the SoHo district. Classes are held under the whisk of executive chef Kevin Reilly at the bar-height chef's counter, so even the worst seat provides a great view. In every one of my classes here, we ate and sipped (the restaurant's wine director and co-owner Scott Lawrence pours excellent wines and expounds a little on each) like aristocrats and even took home generous doggie bags. In addition, co-owners Thalia and Stephen Loffredo distribute handsome, embroidered Zoë aprons; they won't turn you into Reilly, but he always takes phone calls from students. Really.

Signature dish: Topics reflect what's fresh at the market. In one summer class on grilling, Reilly made a grilled-vegetable gazpacho with lime crème fraîche; an aromatic Chilean sea bass with a warm-asparagus salad, charred-grapefruit sauce, and balsamic glaze; followed by a whole sirloin with a crushed-Vidalia-onion relish. The November class, which produced a holiday banquet, netted a recipe for a crackling-good corn-bread stuffing.

Details: 90 Prince Street (212-966-6722); Classes are held Wednesdays, October 4, November 8, and December 6. Prices: $55 per session. Proceeds go to City Harvest.

Miette Cooking School
Main ingredients: For years, Mariette Bermowitz held classes at Tartine, a beloved Village bistro. Classes were relaxed, almost breezy, as pupils donned well-worn aprons and repaired to individual cutting boards to work on chef Paul Vandewoude's eclectic mix of French country fare. Right now, Bermowitz is searching for a new permanent space, but this friendly, well-priced operation is worth waiting for.

Signature dish: A typical Miette menu is a simple one- or two-pot affair -- for example, couscous with chicken and cumin; baked Gorgonzola polenta; crêpes and crème fraîche; pumpkin-and-green-apple bisque; or salmon steak with ratatouille and basil sauce. Bermowitz says that Vandewoude has accumulated volumes of recipes, and she is only now, after four years, beginning to repeat herself.

Details: Call 718-336-4009 for schedule. Price: $45 per session.