10 Things Every Culinary Student Should Know

Whether you have your sights set on joining a culinary school or a pastry school or considering the adventurous route of taking a direct plunge into a restaurant’s kitchen, there are certain considerations that every aspiring culinary student should know.

A professional course Vs. direct entry into a restaurant’s kitchen – A professional course enables a student to build connections and perspectives which otherwise is very difficult to achieve on his own.  By doing a course from a reputed hospitality institute a student gets multiple opportunities and a peek into the industry and its expectations. Indian School of Hospitality (ISH) is among the top culinary schools in India and offers a perfect blend of theory with practical and industry interaction. During the course, the institute hosts multiple guest lectures with culinary geniuses who come and share their knowledge and experience with students.  These lectures not only enable a student to build connections within the industry but also to learn and leap forward against the competition.

Opportunities are endless for a culinary arts student – ISH which offers one of the best culinary arts courses in India, helps student recognize a scope which is beyond being just a chef. It is highly incorrect to think that the only possible job for a culinary arts student is in a restaurant’s kitchen.  Beyond a position of chef, there are career paths in corporate, education, healthcare contract, foodservice, gourmet or speciality market, research and development, food media & marketing and a culinary instructor.

Imbalance between the number of new restaurants and good restaurant professionals – The number of new restaurants opening has grown substantially in the recent years.  But the number of good and trained professionals hasn’t grown at the same pace.  There is a huge demand for trained culinary professionals to head various activities within a restaurant. This situation has given an opportunity and privilege to students to decide the kind of restaurants they wish to work in.  This kind of privilege is rare for students in other streams.

Opportunity to meet many interesting people – An advantage of joining the best culinary arts colleges in India is that it attracts many different kinds of students across the globe. A student will be surprised to see the vast variety of individuals from various phases of their lives, enrolling for a course in culinary arts.  A culinary art course attracts young kids to varied professionals who may have sometimes a decade plus corporate experience.

Being prepared for handling stressful situations– A commercial kitchen can be quite stressful for everyone. A restaurant’s kitchen can be very stressful because of the time limitations and other expectations like keeping the kitchen in a perfect order, having the right and fresh ingredients, complying to the health and industry standards, and lastly, ensuring the food tastes delicious and is of high quality. A culinary school helps prepare a student to keep up with such stressful environment of a kitchen, by equipping a student with the right mix of tools and skills.

You don’t have to like everything you make but you do have to try it – Texture, consistency and looks are important to cooking but the most important part of the process is tasting.  If a good-looking dish doesn’t taste well then, it’s of no use.  A culinary student may dislike few ingredients but if you are cooking it, you got to try it!

Some task may appear easy from outside but may take days, weeks or even months to master it – Tasks like cutting apples or carrots may appear simple to many but learning and then mastering the right technique of doing so will require days, weeks and sometimes even months of practice.  Culinary schools help a student learn about the right tools and skills but it’s also up to the student to invest time in excelling in those skills.

Kitchen can be intense at times – Within a restaurant you need to be quick, how quickly you can clean and cut 1 or 2 pounds of onions, or reduce 5 pounds of curry into the prefect consistency and make it 2 pounds, depends on the skill of a cook.  The working environment can be intense, hot and extensive most of the times, and one should be ready mentally and physically for it.  Many a times, chef can also meet different and at time difficult guests who may have some difficult to fulfil requirements; handling such guests gracefully may require high level of people skills which is gained through years of training, learning and timely encounters.

Endless learning: A culinary art course is not an end but a start to a long journey of learning.  ISH, one of the best culinary colleges in India, believes in instilling a virtue of constant learning within a student.  In a competitive world like todays, one has to constantly keep oneself updated about the trends and developments taking place within the industry. Constant and endless learning helps a student grow and evolve into a culinary genius which the world sorts after.

Patience is a virtue that not many may have – The most important lesson a student learns in a culinary art college is patience.  The smallest of a task like caramelising onion or reducing curry into half takes a fixed period of time, and rushing things will only give burnt onions or burnt curry.  Speed is a key in culinary arts but so is patience.  This virtue is taught but developed only through practice.