Just popping by to share some thoughts about enrolling in culinary school after I talked it up a bunch in a previous post. If you’re new here, hi, hello, thank you for coming! This newsletter is basically a personal blog where I share essays about life and loss, poetry when the mood strikes, occasionally recipes and memoirs from my time working in restaurants and other random thoughts. I always love to hear from you so definitely feel free to drop me a line!
If you read this piece I shared a few weeks ago, you know I think of my time at culinary school fondly.
A few days after I published it, I came across this post from NYT cooking:
A lot of chefs recommend NOT going to culinary school. And that’s probably partly because a lot of successful chefs didn’t go.
They worked their way up from the dish pit or prep cook to garde manger, sautée and so on until they finally landed managerial positions as sous chef and eventually cdc or head chef.
For pastry, the hierarchy is a little different. Depending on the restaurant, there might be only a pastry chef and their assistant or there could be a whole pastry program with a pastry chef, pastry sous chef, multiple pastry cooks and a baker (focused on bread production or even an entirely separate bread team).
But regardless of what your goal is as a chef, the truth is you don’t NEED to go to culinary school to be successful.
As someone who graduated with a certificate in pastry, I can say without a doubt that I learned a lot more on the job than I did in school. School was a great foundation and a foot in the door, but it wasn’t until I had put in hours and hours (years even) into restaurant jobs that I even STARTED to feel like I’d really acquired the skills it takes to be a pastry chef vs an entry level pastry cook working under someone else.
The reason I loved school and would even consider recommending it is, in large part, due to the specific program I enrolled in.
San Francisco Cooking School was really well connected to the local restaurant community in the Bay Area (and beyond) and we had the opportunity to learn from multiple renowned chefs and go on incredible field trips (to flour mills, chocolate factories, commissary kitchens and more). The facility was immaculate and we had access to high quality equipment and ingredients. The instructors were chefs who had been successful in Michelin starred restaurants. It was also a short program (6 months) which appealed to me since I had just finished four years in college and was eager to get on with my life.
Sadly, SFCS has since shut down. It’s hard to know exactly whether other programs would be worth it. But I would definitely suggest talking to grads before enrolling.
The biggest issue I see with attending culinary school is the financial investment. If you’re going to school because you think it will translate into a higher paying restaurant or bakery position, it won’t! Even if you want to start your own business, you’re better off getting real world experience than going to school. If it’s going to hurt you financially, don’t do it.
BUT if you’re going to culinary or pastry school for the joy of learning, a more well rounded knowledge of technique and tools and to make some connections in the industry AND you have the financial means, it’s an experience that you’ll likely cherish.
Just make sure you do your research to find the right program for you!
I’d love to hear from anyone who went to culinary school in the comments. Where did you go? Was it worth it?
OR if you’re an industry professional who didn’t get a culinary degree, is there anything you feel like you missed by not going? Let us know!
I hope this can be a resource for people considering taking that step.
I personally feel that culinary school was a waste of time and money for me. Everything I learned about pastry, I learned from on the job training and from working under some incredibly talented chefs (which I know not a lot of people get the same opportunities). But I also have worked for/with some terrible, abusive chefs and it was still a better learning experience (for me) than anything I learned in school. I learned how I didn't want to be, and what the reality of it is. Especially, as you know, my career was in fine dining and climbing the Michelin ladder. I don't think school can ever prepare you for what it's like at the top and that pressure. Anyway, I could go on and on.. But yeah, I always tell people to go stage somewhere first and see if you like the environment, then decide if you want school..
When I was 18 I enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America. Despite having all of the knowledge that you shared, the pros and cons etc, and despite the hefty loans I was taking on, I still felt called to it. I loved it, but I ended up dropping out after a month because I had a mental breakdown (what I suspect was PTSD that bubbled up unexpectedly after leaving my controlled environment of home) and I also started getting in my head about the cost. I remember being on the phone with my dad telling him I was leaving and he told me “you will regret this.”
I told myself I would save money and focus on getting real world experience. And I did. I ended up going to a state school and getting a Hospitality Management degree — in my program we had a student restaurant that we ran as a lab of sorts, meant to mimic a professional kitchen. I worked for a haughty French baker for awhile, I learned to make cheese and yogurt at a grassfed micro dairy in upstate NY, I apprenticed under a Ballymalloe graduate, I made crepes in a food truck, I cooked in plenty of cafes, worked in breweries and catering companies, sold my baked goods at my local coffee shop, worked on farms, etc. I learned so much. But never got to stage in a fancy kitchen, never reached that certain level of professionalism or prestige that I think I would have found if I stayed at CIA.
My dad was right. I did what I needed to do at the time—but now, I regret leaving because I feel sort of old for going back to culinary school simply for the joy of it at this point in life. I can’t justify taking out 80k in student loans. I’ve considered shorter programs, but now that I have a kid I’m not sure I even want that kitchen life anymore, working long hours and holidays and all that. I want it but on my own terms— like, I’d love to sell my baked goods at my local farmers markets. I make sure to stay close to kitchen projects, especially challenging ones, because my love for food and cooking runs deep, it is a part of me and brings me so much pleasure and meaning.
I do think there are a lot of chefs who regret culinary school. At one restaurant where I bartended, the guys would scoff at the idea of it— and they were real talented chefs. It’s such a gamble, and in many ways the trade off for the investment is the networking and how the connections the school has can give you an in to some higher end kitchen positions. Your program sounds honestly perfect!