College Crunch

A career in the culinary arts field is perfect for people who have a natural love of all kinds of foods and are also interested in learning how restaurants operate smoothly and efficiently. Anyone can boil water and cook an egg but if you have a real passion for food and love to experiment with your recipes to make them new and exciting, attending a culinary arts program is the step you need to become a chef or restauranteur.

In the culinary arts field, not all schools are created equal and many of them are very specialized so you will want to make sure the school you attend has a program to match your specific interests whether it’s four-star cooking, or a regional cuisine. You will need to determine if you want to pursue a degree also. Many schools offer a diploma but a degree will take a lot more of your time to acquire and you will have to determine which one will suit your needs the best. Here is a list of the top culinary arts schools in the US.

Le Cordon Bleu Schools

Le Cordon Bleu was founded in Paris back in 1895 and currently has about fifteen different schools located across the US. This school in internationally recognized as one of the best culinary arts schools in the world. The programs available from this school are: Culinary Arts, Patisserie & Baking, and Hospitality & Restaurant Management. The culinary arts program covers everything you need to know to work in all kinds of restaurants and many graduates work for cruise lines, theme parks, and expensive restaurants all across the US. In this program you will learn nutrition, baking and pasta, international cuisine, cost control, and basic cookery. The Patisserie & Baking program is for those who want to focus on baking only and has classes such as intro to cake formulas and assembly techniques, and advanced patisserie and baking techniques. The hospitality & restaurant management course is a comprehensive program that will give you the skills you need to land a great job at a hotel or restaurant and work as a manager or other hospitality position.

The Institute of Culinary Education

The Institute of Culinary Education was founded in 1975 and is located in New York City, one of the top cities in the world known for amazing restaurants and spectacular chefs. This school offers students programs that last between six and eleven months. This school has also won the International Association of Culinary Professionals four times since 2002.

The Institute of Culinary Education offers the standard courses in culinary arts, pasty and baking, and culinary management but also features a highly regarded externship and job placement program. The only downside to this school is that it may be inconvenient or expensive to attend if you don’t live in the New York area. This doesn’t stop people from attending however, and students come from all around the world to learn from some of the best teachers around.

The Art Institutes

The Art Institutes is a very popular school that has over forty locations across the US. As the name implies, all of the programs offered by this school have a focus on creativity and the culinary arts program is no exception. Technically speaking, The Art Institutes offers the easiest way for you to begin your career in the culinary arts field due to its abundance of locations. This school offers various diplomas and degrees in both culinary arts and culinary management.

The culinary arts programs offered cover over fifteen distinct areas but not all programs are offered at every school. This might be inconvenient if you are looking for something specific that isn’t offered in your area but there is usually some other program that is fairly similar.

Specialty Classes For the Culinary Arts Graduate

In the US, it can be difficult to find a culinary arts school that focuses on ethnic cuisines and lets you graduate with the skills to be a top notch chef in this area. Most culinary arts programs will spend a few weeks but that covers tons of different ethnic foods. As an example for Asian cuisine, one of the best schools in the US is the Asian Culinary Arts Institutes which is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At this school, you will be immersed in every type of Asian cuisine you can imagine. There is Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, and Indian just to name a few.

The classes offered here are best taken after you receive a diploma or degree from a more well known culinary school but you will enter the workplace with a significant edge over your competition. Usually you can find a school similar to this one in your local area but you will have to make sure they offer classes that you are interested in and don’t make you take any strange required courses first. These classes may give you some type of certificate upon completion but typically don’t give you a diploma or anything that is truly recognized by the industry.

Getting a diploma or a degree in any branch of the culinary arts will definitely give you the skills you need to work for restaurants, hotels, theme parks, cruise lines, and almost anywhere that deals with food service and hospitality.