It is always a pleasure when someone mentions your web site or blog so I would like to thank The Reluctant Gourmet for including our blog on his new Squidoo lens called How to Find and Choose the Right Culinary School.
What is a Squidoo
Squidoo is a community website that allows users to create pages (called lenses) for subjects of interest. It was created by Seth Godin, Megan Casey, Corey Brown and Gil Hilderbrand, Jr and is one of the top 300 most viewed in the United States.
The Reluctant Gourmet’s Lens
How to Find and Choose the Right Culinary School consists of several “modules” each discribing different topics pertaining to finding a culinary school and choosing the right one. He looks at
- What do you want in a culinary school?
- What do you want to do after you graduate? (Poll)
- Where to research culinary schools online?
- Culinary career outlook
- Financial outlook for the culinary industry
- Books to read
- Another poll on where you might want to work
- An interview with a culinary student
And then there is a place where you can leave comments.
So if you are thinking of changing careers or starting a career in the food industry, we highly recommend you look at The Reluctant Gourmet’s lens, How to Find and Choose the Right Culinary School
Until very recently, the proportion of men to women in culinary schools (and in the restaurant industry as a whole) has been very uneven. Just twenty-five years ago, the percentage of women attending culinary school hovered somewhere below 10 percent. Fifteen years ago, that number jumped to around 35 percent. Today, women and men attend culinary school in almost equal proportions.
Of course, these numbers aren’t static across the board. When you look at the more prestigious schools (like the Culinary Institute of America), male students still outrank female ones 7 to 3. These numbers are a little more evenly distributed than they have been in the past, but female students can certainly feel outnumbered.
Interestingly enough, women always have outranked men when it comes to baking school. In fact, even the CIA sees a disproportionate number of female baking and pastry arts students; in 2003, women accounted for almost 80 percent of the students.
So, what do all of these numbers mean? The answer can be found by looking directly at the restaurant industry.
Although women and men are now attending culinary school in equal proportions, the number of male culinary professionals continues to be higher. Everyone from the celebrity chefs on Food Network and the winners on Top Chef to the Executive Chefs and restaurant owners currently in operation fall into the male majority. That’s because it’s going to take a few years before the cooking school numbers are reflected in the workforce. Women are just now starting to graduate and move beyond entry-level jobs to start finding their niches in the culinary industry.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman considering culinary school; these days, the options are fairly gender-neutral. Women may have a few more hurdles to face in proving their physical stamina in the kitchen, but they should have no problems when it comes to the school admissions process. Culinary schools know that they have decades of inequality to make up for, so more women are finding easy entry than ever before.
Note: Students should determine if their culinary school is a good one before they attend. One of the biggest errors prospective cooking school students make is not taking the time to investigate if all aspects of the culinary program are right for them.
Getting a quality culinary education is the first big step in landing the career of your dreams – and a big part of that quality education is going to a quality school. The good news is, students can now get a good education virtually anywhere in the United States. However, as with most types of schools, your education is only as good as what you put in it.
In order to get the most out of your culinary college or program, give your school the following quiz (or, if you’re considering prospective culinary programs, ask current students and graduates):
- Are your instructors willing and able to answer your questions?
- Do you feel like you learn something new every day?
- Can you see the path of your own improvement?
- Is your culinary program progressive (that is, does it get increasingly more difficult with each new quarter or semester)?
- Are you learning on the same types of equipment you’ll use in the real working world?
- Do most of the students who begin the culinary program see it all the way through?
- Are your instructors and fellow students enthusiastic about your culinary job outlook?
- Most days, are you excited about the things you’re learning and the people you’re meeting?
As far as quizzes go, scoring this one is pretty easy – “yes” answers are good, and “no” answers might indicate that your cooking school isn’t quite right for you.
That brings us to an important point in any good culinary education: the best indicator that your culinary program is going to work for you is you feeling enthusiastic about it. If you’re excited, it will show in your food and in the way you approach your future. While technical training skills and a big culinary school name go a long way, you are the biggest asset you have.
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Choosing the Right Culinary Arts School
Is Culinary School Right For Everyone?
A love of food and the culinary arts is fairly common in today’s society. Almost everyone has heard the names of top chefs and top culinary schools, and an appreciation for fine food and fine baked goods means that more restaurants open up every day.
While this is good news for anyone considering culinary school, since job opportunities are only expected to increase over the next few years, the fact remains that getting a culinary education isn’t for everyone. Like any other career field, there is a pretty heavy investment of time and money that goes into that entry-level degree.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself before quitting your job and moving to New York to pursue your new culinary career:
- Do you love cooking? This includes everything from loving the ingredients and the heat of the kitchen to pleasing large crowds of people. If there’s any part of the cooking process that you don’t enjoy, you may want to consider whether you would be happy working 40 to 60 hours per week in a restaurant setting.
- Do you enjoy working as a team? Although the head chef or restaurant owner might get to order other people around, most cooks and chefs work as part of a larger team. Unless you can work collaboratively with others, culinary school might not be for you.
- Do you lead an active lifestyle? It might seem like a small thing, but most cooks and chefs spend 8 hours per day on their feet in a high-impact industry. While culinary school can be good “training,” it’s not always a good career for people who prefer working in front of a computer or at a desk.
- Are you ready to make the investment? Most culinary programs last between six weeks and four years, and can cost upwards of $50,000 when all is said and done. If this is a change you’re ready to make, be sure you know what sacrifices you’ll have to make to reach that culinary finish line.
Becoming a chef can be one of the most rewarding careers out there – as long as it’s what you really want. Remember, though, that the road to chefdom is a long, hard one, and you may have to put in several years at the entry level before climbing to the top.
For a more detailed look at the question of Culinary School and is it right for you, please read our article called Is Culinary School Right For Everyone?
