I’m a vegetarian and a sophomore in high school and I’m thinking about my future. I’m trying to graduate early and get into a cooking school. But if working/owning my own restaruante, why would I have to learn to cook meat? So is there such a thing as a University where I can go to learn culinary arts?
Sorry for any spelling mistakes.
xjaz1 - said
August 9 2010 @ 21:58
Great choice! There are not a lot of vegetarian places to eat in our area,but if you go to the S.F. bay area.. there are more.. Look up the culinary arts programs in S.F. My reason for vegetarian is 1. it’s healthier.. Look up Dean Ornish.. He might have some resources in his literature.
andy f - said
August 9 2010 @ 21:58
First, cullinary school teach more on presentation(prettiness), more than anything else. It is not like every chef will be a gourmet chef, and this is something which they tend to market heavily.
Which means your knowledge will be limited to a certaiin style and taste.
I would suggest a couple of things to make you stand out above the rest of the "culinary elites".
1. take chemical engineering, so that when so-called chefs say caramelization, you can explain better understand exactly and then combine it with the chef’s knowledge. maybe you can learn why temp. is so important on fine grained meats, or fishes, and how much a cup and teaspoon really weighs and how these recipes come together and form their tastes, any why chefs always are so vague…… because they only learn from their masters without really understanding their art
2. read as many botonical books about plants and wildlife, and you will began to wonder why chefs can only come up with a couple dishes and are "specialized" in their narrow fields of cooking.
3. work at a restaurant, chinese/italian/greek/indian/india/polynesian/american/british/etc. this will give you a sense on why each culture is so limited to their ingredients, and why they are too lazy to explore other spices.You learn cooking techniques, but you also can observe how hard a business can be, if your not mentally prepared.
4. practice. an egg may be very easy to cook, but have you tried salted duck eggs, thousand year old eggs, french eggs, philipine raw chicklet moving egg, besides the sunny side and scrambled. And then you can think about what the yolk is made of, what egg white does when it is being cooked, and how it is cooked with the different temp. settings, and how you can add other spices to the original material,egg. Finally you can apply this information to how to run your business better. And with a bit of luck and determination. I hope the best for you.
ironchain15 - said
August 9 2010 @ 21:58
There was a vegetarian cooking class in my college, but it was only for six weeks. I am not sure if any universities have such a program.