A Taste of Success: Free Culinary Lessons

With the culinary industry thriving, free programs in economically distressed areas are designed to teach individuals how to become cooks and chefs: no experience necessary.

by Sue Booth
sue.booth@Cooking-School-Search.com
Cooking School Search Columnist

The Culinary field is continually growing and culinary training is a marketable skill. Cooking school programs are now designed to aid people living in economically distressed areas to learn necessary culinary skills and get a foot in the thriving industry door.

A Cooking School Meets A Need

A demand for more cooks and chefs in Tennessee has initiated a free culinary training program in Knoxville. Through the program, local professional chefs teach area residents about culinary arts and how to become chefs. The program is free to participants due its alliance and funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Renewal Initiative through incentives, grants, and tax benefits. The program also supplies stipends to members who miss time from work while completing the program. Value is added to participants’ job skills in order to help them find a good job in the culinary industry.

The Free Culinary Training Program, No Experience Necessary

Here is what participants can expect in the cooking school program:

• Twelve hours of class per week for the first month
• After the first month: four hours of class per night, two nights per week throughout the program.
• Students will learn: food production, cooking, food service, sanitation, job skills, and training from local professionals.
• Upon graduation, all students will leave with: a professional knife kit, a set of uniforms, cookbooks, and a sanitation textbook.

Success Stories

In 2005, 28 of 30 students graduated from the cooking school program with more job offers lined up than there were graduates. Most graduates found cook and chef jobs in the Knoxville area.

The U.S. Department of Labor claims that cooks and chefs are the largest growing jobs in the country. This type of cooking school program is great for getting a head start in the culinary industry. Once trained, supplemental culinary training at a culinary school is always an option for the future.

Source

Program Responds to Need for Cooks - The Daily Beacon

About the Author

Sue Booth is a freelance writer and a former panel taste tester for Good Housekeeping magazine.

Posted on January 12, 2007 at 1:17 PM

Share this article: