Culinary Schools in Hampton Roads: Why is Culinary Education Important?
Culinary arts careers have swelled in recent years, thanks to the popularity of cooking shows hosted by chefs who prepare fun and creative dishes. If you love cooking, you might have considered a career in the culinary arts.
Becoming a professional in this field isn’t just about slicing and chopping at a high speed; it takes skill, determination, and hard work. There are different careers available in this industry and you may be surprised at how easy it can be to turn your hobby into a promising career. The best way to prepare yourself for the career of your choice is to earn a culinary degree. Here are some of the benefits of culinary school:
Gain Hands-on Experience in the Kitchen
Experience is one of the big reason to attend a culinary school. Individuals who work their way up in the kitchen are only backed with passion and enthusiasm, but they may not have the hands-on experience and skills to back up their career goals. In a culinary school, you get exposed to opportunities such as job-site training and internships, which give you the experience you need to apply for jobs.
In addition to hands-on experience, culinary courses prepare you for everything associated with the food industry. You’ll learn how best to use your cooking time, how to delegate tasks, and how to handle a stressful kitchen. A resume showing that you’re a degree holder will give you access to opportunities you wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Flexibility in your Career
Culinary arts education prepares you to create aesthetically appealing dishes in a safe and timely manner. However, not everyone with a culinary arts degree becomes a chef within a restaurant. As a culinary artist, you have the options of starting your own business, travel the world and document your food journey, host a television show, or be employed in the food industry.
You could also take a career path such as line cook or staff preparation, restaurant cook, baker, pastry chef, dessert specialist, private chef, or assistant chef. Education gives you the opportunity to do what you love while giving you the foundation for you to advance your career. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment in this industry is expected to grow by 10% from 2016 to 2026.
Discover New Areas of the Culinary Arts
You may have decided to attend culinary school because you love cooking savory dishes. The syllabus is expansive and this might lead you to uncover a love for pastries. It’s common for those enrolled in culinary degree programs to discover a love for baking, cake decorating, vegan cooking or any other niche area within the culinary industry.
Going to culinary school gives you the chance to taste new, bold, and complex textures and flavors. Also, you create new dishes and try different cultural dishes, and while doing this, you could fall in love with a different area of culinary arts.
Working Your Way Up the Kitchen Is Not for Everyone
While you don’t have to go to any kind of school to get a restaurant job, those who choose to work their way up in the kitchen must be ready to start as a dishwasher or prep cook. However, bypassing culinary school is often an intimidating and risky way to learn culinary arts. For instance, if you lose your current your job, you might not find another one so easily with no education on your resume.
The risk of learning on-the-job is that not all chefs are interested in cultivating their employees. Some chefs expect their cooks to come in knowing all the basic techniques and vocabulary. You also don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you have to ask how to carry a knife around the kitchen.
There are many culinary schools in Hampton Roads, giving students a chance to learn culinary arts and make an impact. Hampton Roads particularly offers a wide range of opportunities for cuisine and for culinary experimentation. As such, studying in this great city could afford you various opportunities for inspiration and discovery.
Do you aspire to be a chef? If you want to earn an Associate of Applied Science in Culinary Arts, ECPI University’s Culinary Institute of Virginia offers this degree program at an accelerated rate. This helps you learn everything you need to know in the shortest amount of time possible. For more information on this exciting program, connect with a knowledgeable admissions representative today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty, or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.
Gainful Employment Information – Culinary Arts - Associate’s
For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.