Things Culinary Students Should Know Before Starting their Degree Program
With the increase in food blogs, foodie culture, and food establishments, culinary school seems like an excellent way to start on a lasting career path -- and it can be. People who attend culinary school learn not only how to cook, but also how to manage kitchens, create recipes, and more. But culinary school is definitely school, and you aren't going to be able to coast through it. Here's what you need to know if you're planning on attending.
You Need to Be in Shape
Cooking professionally is an intensely physical job. Not only are you chopping, stirring, and lifting constantly, but you're also on your feel all day and running between stations. Cutting up carrots might not seem like much work, but after you've cut them up, you might have to clean out an industrial mixer and move several racks of cooling bread across the kitchen. You may have to help move the latest delivery of food supplies over to the refrigerator because the delivery person dropped them all off at the door, and if the restaurant has a garden, you may have to go out and actually pick your dinner ingredients.
Culinary school can be just as intense because, even though you're not in a kitchen all day, you're running from class to class and repeatedly cleaning up, you're working at an externship for professional experience, and you are also trying to replicate cooking methods and recipes in order to study for culinary exams.
Start getting into shape now. Work on your posture and core strength to help you get through those days when it seems like you can't sit down. Develop arm strength so that you can lift all those supplies and pieces of equipment.
Your Skills Apply to Diverse Restaurant Styles
As you go through culinary school you'll see many people trying to make cutting-edge cuisine, but don't worry if you are interested in other types of cooking or restaurant management. The skills you learn in culinary school transfer to a wide range of fields, professions, and cuisines. What's important at school is that you get the skills down so that when you go to look for work, you can be comfortable in any setting. That will enable to you explore more while still supporting yourself.
Also take the opportunity in culinary school to talk to your teachers about the different fields available. Maybe you would do well in a formal restaurant setting, or maybe you're more interested in finding a classic diner to work in. You may find that catering is more your style because you like event planning and decorating. You may even discover that food science is really where you want to go. But all of these options still rely on knowing basic culinary skills that you'll learn in school.
You Have to Learn to Handle Personal and Professional Stress
Kitchens, be they in diners, food trucks, catering companies and more, are fast-paced, competitive places. Stress can be high, even in kitchens that are generally harmonious. You have to be able to handle the stress of these jobs. Especially if any interactions become personal, such as a customer acting up or a kitchen rivalry rearing its head. You really have to learn how to let incidents roll off you so that you can continue to work well. That ability to stay cool will also help your reputation tremendously.
Do you think you have what it takes to succeed in culinary school? If you are interested in earning a Associate of Applied Science Degree in Culinary Arts, ECPI University’s Culinary Institute of Virginia offers this degree program at an accelerated rate. For more information, connect with a helpful admissions counselor today!
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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