More students than ever are mopping their foreheads. There are about 75,000 students in career culinary programs–up about 35 percent in five years–at 425 schools, says Dorlene Kaplan, editor of “The Guide to Cooking Schools 2003.” Culinary educators say an influx of 18-year-olds is a big reason for the spike. “It’s become a real career track for young people,” says Karl Guggenmos, dean of the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I. But is it the right job path for you? Despite my inability to stand for long stretches, my name’s Bret and I’ll be your waiter for this article. Do you have any questions?
Is this really a “career track”? Is it going to get me a better job than flipping burgers?
Excellent idea for a starter. Yes, it will. According to the National Restaurant Association, the food-service industry is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, providing work for nearly 9 percent of the U.S. work force. The good news: the culinary industry allows for rapid advancement. Executive chefs with six to eight years’ experience can make up to $90,000. Kaplan says that’s partly why “people who’d normally say ‘my son or daughter is going to law school’ now say ‘my child is going to culinary school’.
Sweet. Learning to cook’s easy, right?
Get the breadsticks out of your ears and listen to me–or, at least, to Ore Dagan, 21, finishing up at CIA. “I started at 1:30 p.m., and there were nights I didn’t get out until 11,” he says. “During the first kitchen class you have 20 minutes to do a diced onion, sliced onion, chopped garlic, chopped parsley and a chopped tomato. Chef would reduce the time you had each class–15 minutes, 10.” When I visited John Larson and Paul Fratelone, 19-year-olds studying pastry arts at New York’s French Culinary Institute (FCI), they were working on final assignments. The dry-erase board read: “chocolate project day 2. grading starts @ 13:00.” Which sounds like fun until you try shaping chocolate to look like a PC–as Fratelone had to do.
Do I get a Ph.D. for all that?
No. Most career culinary programs offer an associate’s degree, which requires 18 to 24 months. A few places offer a bachelor’s degree, but that can mean writing and math courses. Tuition varies, but an associate’s will cost $30,000 to $40,000 at a private trade school. More water? Yes, thanks. So how do I know if an institute is foie gras–or chopped liver? Dorothy Cann Hamilton, FCI’s founder and CEO, says to make sure any school is “a learning environment, not an observing environment.” Your classroom education should be hands-on; programs with externships help put your new skills to use in the real world. Seek out a school with an on-campus restaurant. Other educators say that if a program is run by a company that owns a chain of schools, consider that culinary educations are expensive to deliver. Is the school more concerned with its bottom line than with putting money back into education? The schools foodies point to most are on the East Coast–CIA, FCI and Johnson & Wales. They employ top instructors and have strong alumni networks. CIA requires six months of food-industry experience before it’ll consider your application.
That’s going to delay my Food Network show!
Slow down, Emeril. The Food Network has made chefs into rock stars, but go to culinary school because you’re passionate about food–not fame. You’ll be perfecting consomm??s, not “Bam!” technique. “Mario [Batali], Emeril–they were chefs in their own right long before Food Network was even a thought,” says food celeb Bobby Flay, a 1984 FCI graduate.
Good advice. Anything else?
I’m starved. How about you buy lunch?
