The Culinary Arts School Advantage

A culinary arts school experience will serve you well in your chef career.

by Eneida P. Alcalde
ealcalde@cooking-school-search.com
Cooking School Search Columnist

Enjoying the art of cooking is an interest that will keep you motivated as you pursue a chef career. You’ll be happy doing something you love while working to improve your skills. But, in order to have a successful chef career, you’ll need more than an interest, cooking skills, and a chef’s hat.

Culinary Arts Schools

To gain a competitive advantage and valuable chef training, you’ll need to enroll in a culinary arts school. By continuing your education at a culinary arts school, once you graduate you won’t spend a lot of time in lower-skilled kitchen jobs. Additionally, you’ll have an advantage when looking for jobs in better restaurants since many employers prefer chef training given by culinary arts schools.

Culinary arts school chef training lasts about two years or more, and degree-granting chef programs are only given to high-school graduates. Many top chefs are graduates of culinary arts schools found across the country. Chef training includes lots of hands-on practice in kitchens so that students learn to cook and learn to use important equipment.

In chef training, apart from cooking, students learn:

• Good knife techniques
• Safe food-handling procedures
• Proper use and care of kitchen equipment

Chef training coursework generally includes subjects such as:

• Menu planning
• Portion control
• Nutrition

In some chef training programs students also learn about the business side of the restaurant world by receiving training in:

• Food-service management
• Computer accounting
• Inventory software

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that chef careers will increase nine to 17 percent through 2014 and cautions that competition will be strong for jobs in top restaurants. But don’t worry, as a culinary arts school graduate you’ll gain an upper hand and have many advantages when pursuing your chef career.

Source

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

About the Author

Eneida P. Alcalde works in Washington, D.C., and has written several grants, educational manuals, and promotional material for development organizations.

Posted on May 16, 2007 at 12:52 PM

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