What do you Learn in Culinary School?
Culinary arts are enjoying a renaissance on television. There’s plenty of cooking shows and celebrity chefs showing the magic that can happen in the kitchen with the right mix of talent and education. You may have been tempted to enroll in a culinary arts program but been discouraged by the high drama and intense programming you have seen.
Rest assured that culinary arts instruction are nothing like the reality shows would have you believe. If you have ever been curious about what you would learn in culinary school, here is some insight into the world of culinary arts.
The Foundation of Every Great Chef
Beginning students are given the opportunity to grow into their role by taking on a gradual increase in responsibility as they learn and master the basic skills required to operate a successful kitchen environment. This isn't only the "elbow grease" aspects like keeping a kitchen clean and using kitchenware safely, but also knowledge-based fundamentals like time management, accounting, and the business side of kitchen operations. Whether your ultimate career goal is working for a particularly prestigious restaurant or want to run a business of your own this first year, this sets you up to succeed.
Presentation is Everything
The advanced student is given a chance to shine and show off their skills in front of actual customers. This is where the arts part of the culinary arts education gives you your first exhibition, and your venue is the table of discerning diners. It offers the opportunity to be creative in such areas as table setting, recipe development, and even cooking right in front of the customers. Students may find that they want the opportunity to specialize in a cuisine of a particular culture or experiment with fusions of diverse traditional dishes.
Taking The Real World By Storm
Many culinary arts programs are offering internship and externship opportunities that give students a chance to take what they have learned and apply it to the real-world environment of a fully operational restaurant. Students broaden their knowledge by building on what they have learned in the classroom and combining it with the know-how of the industry's top professionals.
The Soft Skills To Succeed
One of the most underappreciated areas that culinary arts school gives students the time and space to develop are the soft skills required to be a successful chef. Customer service may be taken as a mandatory requirement, but it is also a skill that takes time and care to refine into an art. Other soft skills needed to be successful in the kitchen are time management and communication skills, among others. In a culinary arts institute you will be able to learn how to talk to you fellow chefs and cooks to keep the kitchen running smoothly.
The Skills That Are In The Highest Demand
Chefs and head cooks are a quickly growing career field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS states, the job outlook for chefs is expected to increase by 9% over the next decade, outpacing the national average for most occupations.
Even with the swelling of opportunity, it is a highly competitive industry and culinary arts school puts candidates for these positions at a distinct advantage over high school graduates who seek to work their way up from the ground floor. A culinary arts education doesn't just provide the bare minimum skills required to operate a kitchen, but also provides an impressive resume and portfolio of recipes as well as a recorded body of work that proves that you can be a unique asset to any restaurant.
A Bright Future Is Waiting In The Kitchen
In an unstable labor market, there is one thing that you can depend on and that is people are going to need to eat. Culinary arts is a curriculum custom-designed to ensure that you have the tools to be competitive in the industry. Whether you want to run your own kitchen or work inside one of the most prestigious restaurants in town, there are plenty of options for culinary arts graduates in a world that is always hungry.
Are you passionate about the culinary arts and interested in earning an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Culinary Arts? ECPI University’s Culinary Institute of Virginia offers this degree program at an accelerated rate, helping students move from training kitchens to the real thing! For more information, connect with a friendly admissions counselor today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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