Hello chefs. You're listening to chefs, PS a
podcast. I'm your host on Trina.
Tara, today we are going to get into culinary school So culinary
school is probably you know a pretty controversial topic.
I know a lot of chefs are very interested and you know I'm
going to add fuel to the fire on either side whether you're Pro
culinary school or your anti culinary school.
But I think from a chef's perspective it's important that
we discuss it that we talk about the pros and cons what to expect
in culinary school. What to expect when you get out
of college, Our schools, some of the differences between culinary
school and the real world. But most importantly, I think
this gives if nothing else. It's an opportunity to begin
dialogue and there's no right or wrong because everyone has a
different path and some people need school and some people
don't. But nonetheless, I just want to
make sure that we're opening up the dialogue and discussion and
I don't have a hard stance either way whether I'm Pro
culinary school or anti culinary school.
So I think it's important that we establish that first With
that being said, I did go to culinary school.
I went to the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon.
This was 1995. I graduated in 1996 and when I
was going to culinary school things were much different, the
Western Culinary Institute became a Le Cordon Bleu, but it
was, it was, it was new for me. I didn't know anything.
I was 17 years old, I didn't even know what's called culinary
school. I thought I was going to Chef
school. As I like to call is like, I'm
going to Chef school, but in reality I was going to culinary
school. I didn't Know what that word
meant and the way I found it back then was you know I would I
would buy bone Appétit magazine and I would look in the back and
they used to have advertisements for culinary schools and it was
CIA Culinary Institute of America Johnson & Wales
Scottsdale the California Culinary Academy.
And then the Western Culinary Institute that was that was
pretty much the only schools that were advertising at the
time. So I had decided that I wanted
to go to school because I need it to work.
I really didn't have any other Since in life, you know it's get
into a lot of trouble. I wanted to I wanted to be a
fighter. I want to be a professional
fighter, my parents didn't think it was the best thing for me.
So I said well, culinary school seems easy, you know, I don't
need to go to college for four years or whatever.
This seemed relatively easy at the time.
I thought this is an easy career path, cooking.
Seems easy boy. Was I wrong?
It wasn't what I, it wasn't what I signed up for, but like I
said, it wasn't my initial passion.
But what I discovered is that when I was in school, I quickly
fell in love with it. Really fell in love with the
idea of becoming a chef. And since then, I've gone to
continuing education courses in the CIA and st.
Helena, California in Hyde Park, New York and then also in San
Antonio, I think once or twice. So I've I'm a firm believer in
culinary education, there's online culinary program that
I've also taken and completed and that's Ruby which is an
online culinary school because I'm an education junkie, I
always want to get some sort of Competitive Edge as a chef and
learn a little Will do something or what else?
Could I learn as a chef? So me personally, I've attended
school probably more than others.
Like I said, I've completed an online course.
I graduated from culinary school and I've taken I think, at least
three or four continuing education courses at the CIA.
I was also a commencement speaker and I for Le Cordon Bleu
schools. I sat on their board for quite
some time. And then, I think I delivered
one of the most recent Moment, graduation addresses for The
Culinary Institute in San Antonio.
So I'm a big proponent of culinary school, but I know a
lot of people are not. So me, personally, I am.
I do think that for myself as an individual, I did need that
extra education because I'm an education junkie.
I read a ton of books, you know? And I think I've talked about
this on other podcasts. I read about a book a week and I
try to hit about 50 books, a year.
I love to read, I love to educate myself.
So for people like me that just love the Educational aspect of
culinary school. I do think that it is something
that you should consider. If you could afford it and you
love to educate yourself, you should go to culinary school but
I want to talk about what really happens when you go to culinary
school. And when you graduate culinary
school and I'll share this story with you, I did an Instagram
video on this. The other day is when I was in
culinary school the instructor was, you know, he was given a
discourse for us and he talked about how when we Graduate.
You know, we're going to get our diploma in culinary arts and we
could use that diploma and go to the American culinary, to
American culinary Federation and became a certified cook.
So I remember hearing that and I was a bit shocked, I said
certified cook. I'm going to culinary school.
I've moved two thousand miles away from home to educate,
myself to become a chef. As I thought I was in Chef
school. When you graduate, I was going
to be the chef and I remember raising my hand and I said you
said we're going to become certified Cooks, don't you mean
will become chefs and He laughed and all the culinary in.
School instructors also laughed in the like know when you
graduate you're going to be a cook and you're going to work in
kitchens for years and it might take you 10 to 20 years before
you're ever a chef and times were different.
Then I think now I think that's probably not as true as it was
back then. I think you could become a chef
in a much shorter time, just because of the access to
information through social media through video platforms like
YouTube, continuing education courses, like, B or really great
online programs. Like chefsteps, I think this
helps shorten your career trajectory, you could become a
chef and much shorter time but it was the norm, there was 40,
50 year-old executive, Sous chefs that were waiting in line
for their chef to retire so they can move up that wasn't
uncommon. So for me, I was, I was a little
bit devastated. When I found out that upon
graduation, I was not going to become a chef.
So for people that are In school right now and if you think when
you graduate you're going to be a chef, that's probably not the
case. Most likely you're going to
start at the bottom, you know, depending on how high end the
kitchen is that you work? You know, if you're starting in
a Michelin Star Kitchen, you're going to start at the bottom.
There's no way that they're going to put you in a position
of leadership, much less, probably not even on the line,
you're probably going to start peeling, you know, peeling
vegetables or putting away the produce.
So that's the reality of it, it doesn't matter.
You graduated, because the fact of the matter is, everyone else
in the kitchen, especially in these high-end kitchens,
everyone else went to culinary school, everyone else has ten
times more experience and knowledge than you do.
So understand that culinary school in a lot of kitchens
that's just price of Entry, that just gets your resume looked at
in that gets your, your foot in the door, but it does not
guarantee a position when you graduate.
So I think that's something that a lot of young chefs and Cooks
need to understand when it comes to when I graduate, will I
become a chef And the answer is probably not.
So if the answer is no, you're not going to be a chef when you
graduate, then the question becomes.
Do you need culinary school? And the fact of the matter is no
you don't, you could become a chef without having gone to
culinary school. There's many great chefs out
there that never went to culinary school that learned the
old-fashioned way. They wanted to a great kitchen,
they worked under a great chef and they work their way up.
And for some people that's the way to do it.
They don't like, they don't like sitting in classrooms.
They want to get into the action right away and they go that
route. So there's There's nothing that
says you have to have a degree in order to become a chef and I
can tell you, I've been an executive chef nine times for
restaurants hotels Resorts corporate Chef Etc.
And never once did anyone ask to see my diploma?
And as a chef who's hired other chefs, never once did I ask them
to see their diploma, it doesn't matter.
Once you're in the industry, people don't look at your resume
and say, oh, you didn't go to culinary school.
We're not going to hire you. It matters what you've done.
In the industry. So where have you worked?
What have you done? What have you accomplished?
That matters more so than it does?
Hey, I went to such and such school that like I said that's
that's just price of entry and the fact of the matter is most
of the people when you graduate will have a lot more experience
than you do. So it's a reality check like
you're going to go into a kitchen and your think your
little bit puffed up, I just graduated from culinary school.
I'm going to be able to tell people what to do and people
Pilar going to have a hard time respecting.
You like you're not the chef, I have way more experience than
you. I've been doing this for 10
years you just went to school. You have no experience.
How are you going to tell me what to do?
And sometimes that's that's a sad reality of a lot of kitchens
until you understand that the currency that you exchange with
other Cooks is really, you know, your ability to cook on the
line, your ability to prep, that's what's going to bring you
value. Not the diploma, the diploma
like I said is going to get you in the door, it's going to give
you confidence. It's going to give you a
foundation. Shouldn't from which to build on
but you're on your own, your teachers, aren't there to help
you anymore. So I think it's really important
that people understand that because sometimes it can be a
shock. You know, you've you're in
culinary school and you're working on a project with the
team for two or three hours and then you get into the kitchen
and it's like, oh shit, there is no team.
It's just me and I have a mountain of prep to get done by
myself. That is that is a real situation
and no one's going to help you and if you don't get it done,
you might lose your job. So It's important that you start
to think about that. Transition from culinary school
to the real world of kitchens. And I highly recommend that if
you're in culinary school right now and you're listening to
this, get a job in the industry start working as a chef in
part-time full-time, on the weekends, whatever you can is
start getting exposed to that kitchen environment because it
is very different from the classroom, the pace and
intensity is, you know, it's tenfold when it comes to the
speed that people expect from you and the workload that you
get From working on a project in a group with a bunch of students
versus working on a project with no group with a deadline by a
chef that needs it done yesterday.
And I'll share a little story with you.
So I used to I won't say which culinary schools.
But I used to partner with a lot of culinary schools and they
would ask me to go in and have a conversation with the students
because there's a lot of things that the instructors are aware
of that. They, you know, they really are
not going to say to the students but they, you know, they're a
little bit afraid for the students and they like, hey, I
can't say this to them but you don't work for us.
Can you come in and have a scared straight so to speak
conversation with the students? So I would go in and give them
interview tips and you know what, it's going to be.
When you get into a kitchen and I would be shocked, sometimes
I'd be appalled. Like I could I could recall the
time that I went into this culinary school and it was like
it was just like being in high school.
Again, the kids were so disrespectful to some of the
instructors. I remember, when I walked into
to give a little lecture, one of the students had their feet on
the table, they were rolling their eyes.
When I was talking and I'm trying to be respectful, you
know, I'm in their school, but I was thinking you don't realize
like you could be disrespectful of little bit when you're in
culinary school and you could get away with it because you're
paying for it, right? So the teachers might be willing
to put up with a little bit more.
Like when you're in high school like, okay, you're paying me,
you're paying my salary. I get it.
I want you to graduate. I understand that, you know, you
have a little bit of a chip on your shoulder, but I was as this
was happening, I was thinking, if this was in the real world
you be fired. If you were that disrespectful
to another Chef you that would be it.
You'd be thrown out of the kitchen and you wouldn't come
back and it blew Mind. And it reminded me like, oh the
a lot of the, a lot of the people in culinary school that
I've never worked before you're in for a very rude awakening.
When you work in an intense kitchen and you have a, you have
a little bit of a Lippy attitude towards the chef.
Remember, here's a big difference between culinary
school and work is when you're in culinary school, you're
paying them, you're paying them. But when you flip it around,
they're paying you. So, the expectation is much
different and everyone in the kitchen understands that already
like theirs, There's, there's a difference.
It's like when you're in high school, like a lot of people go
to culinary school right out of high school.
And so you're used to kind of that, that mentality and banter.
You know, you're the senior in high school and then all of a
sudden you get into a professional kitchen and these
guys are four five, six years in.
So, it's like going from being a senior in high school to to
big-time college. And you're a freshman all over
again and it's a culture shock. So, I think it's, I think it's
important that you understand. That you're prepared for it.
And I'm not saying this to scare anyone, but understand, the best
thing to do when you're in culinary school is be humble.
Go into a kitchen that is going to make you better work with
chefs that are better than you, learn and work in kitchens that
you're not the best. Because if you're right out of
culinary school and you're the best person in the kitchen,
you're probably in the wrong kitchen because you should be
working around people that are much, much better than you,
that'll haste in your career because you'll have You know,
you'll have a greater eyelash learning curve as its explained,
you know, the ability to go further.
Anyway, I'm rambling and I'm ranting.
I want to talk about lasting just to kind of close it all up.
Is, what should you do upon graduation?
Like I said, ideal, if you could get work experience, that's
great. But one of the great benefits of
going to culinary school is your Chef instructors.
Use them talk to them. And ask them.
Where should I work? Who do Oh, and the industry that
I could go work with and learn from and see what doors that
they opened for you. So this is a very important
piece of advice. I could give you is utilize the
people around you because they know way more than you, they
probably have more experience in the industry than you.
And and if you're not going to use them, figure out what are
the best restaurants in the world.
And if you have the opportunity to go work abroad and work in
different countries and get into some of these world-class
restaurants, you know, the restaurants that have Michelin
stars or on the world's 50, best do it.
Because a lot of those, a lot of those places would prefer to get
you when you're younger and you have less experience.
So you haven't really picked up any bad habits, then they would,
you know, if you had 10 years experience working in the wrong
type of kitchen, and what I mean, by the wrong type of
kitchen is something that's not exactly at that high level.
So, Working great restaurants, work around great chefs like and
we'll talk about this on another episode but you could always
work your way down the ladder, but if you start out working in
kitchens for years, that are not at the highest level, it's very
hard to work your way up. So if you start at the top, you
can always go down but it's difficult.
If you start at the bottom, to work your way up and I mean that
in terms of level of Cuisine that you're working on.
So if you have a passion for working in high-end Cuisine, do
that right away. Don't be afraid that you're not
going to be the best person in the kitchen because the reality
is you're not and you're not going to be the best person in
any kitchen that you go to. So why not go to the best
kitchen where you can learn from?
Great people. Well anyway, chefs that wraps up
this rant on culinary school for those of you that were on the,
on the, on my Instagram and you messaged me what episodes you'd
like to see, I appreciate that. It gave me a lot of ideas for
future Rants and It's like that. But if you want to support the
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music. See y'all