Becoming a Healthy Chef: What You Need to know about a Culinary Nutrition Degree
Hairnets. The very word evokes images of romance, travel, and glamour. Modern hairnets date back to 1963, when, according to the United States Patent Office, Ruthard Dietze patented a clear hairnet with an elastic hem, U.S. Patent #3,094,995. If you yearn to prepare healthful meals for others, to guide children in good eating habits, or to make hairnets part of your daily fashion choices, you may be the ideal candidate for a degree in Culinary Arts and Applied Nutrition.
Start with a Degree in Culinary Nutrition
Any role in culinary arts, hospitality, or dietary management begins with a strong education. You need to select a school that will respect your time and finances, and will provide you with essential classes for greatest flexibility without extraneous classes you do not need. Concentrate on four major areas:
- Culinary Skills and Techniques: Kitchen organization, cooking methods, baking and pastry basics, preparation of meat, seafood and poultry, and presentation
- Nutrition and Dietary Management: Nutrition analysis and recipe modification, menu planning, dietary conditions, and alternative methods for baking and cooking
- Culinary Operations: Kitchen sanitation and safety, patient service, purchasing, storeroom management, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) planning
- Hats and Hairnets: Nope. No, really, hairnets are disposable, inexpensive, and hardly worth a second thought; it is as if ol' One-Track Ruthard is writing this
Possible Track in Culinary Arts
A degree in culinary nutrition could lead to three possible paths:
- Food service management: Training in nutrition and culinary operations could provide you with the background to create menus, select healthful foods, order and budget food programs, advise patrons, and run kitchens
- Chef or head cook: Formal culinary arts training could help place you in a commercial, institutional, or private kitchen
- Curator of Hairnet Exhibits at any of the world's leading museums: Looking back, this path seems highly unlikely, if not downright ridiculous
The Culinary Work Environment
Because a degree in Culinary Arts and Applied Nutrition offers you so many choices of possible tracks, your workplace options are varied:
- Casinos
- Colleges and Universities
- Cruise ships
- Elementary schools
- Fast-service restaurants
- Fine restaurants
- High schools
- Hotels
- Private clubs
- Resorts
- Senior centers
- Spas
You'll almost always work in an environment where everybody else--customers, tourists, club members are relaxing, partying, or being entertained. The hospitality industry itself thrives on high-energy, extroverted personalities. If your personal preference is for socializing, meeting and making new friends (and maybe showing off your vast collection of hairnets), you may be a good fit for the hospitality industry.
Watching my papa graduate :) #chefgerry #civ #ecpi pic.twitter.com/vQmCV44z2c
Jenni Y (@imsimplyjenni) June 28, 2013
Good Riddance to Ruthard, Hello to Culinary School
For actual, useful, Ruthard-free information on earning an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Culinary Arts and Applied Nutrition from ECPI University. Contact and in as little as 15 months, you could gain the skills and knowledge to enter the hospitality field and provide healthful meals, run a kitchen, or be a chef. It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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