Cooking together : An ethnographic approach of three “ ateliers cuisine” This article is based on participant observation in three “ ateliers cuisine” organised in community centres located in Paris (France). Participant involvement in culinary activities is expected, in a purpose of social integration. The study highlights two main characteristics of this activity, which appears through its cultural and collective dimension : the question of the “ culinary exoticism” and the “ relation with Other”. Moreover, the collective character of the culinary activity arouses social relations which are based less on culinary skills than on the social positions and properties of the participants, within the “ atelier”, within the centre, and more generally within their social life. Furthermore, the collective dimension underlines the various positions of the three “ ateliers” on a continuum of situations. This continuum is defined by hierarchical social relations and by meanings of the culinary activity which are supported between “ making together” and “ to be together”.