Why a Culinary Arts Degree is a Smart Career Move

Going berserk with a knife

Remember the ‘Long Kiss Goodnight’ in which Geena Davies starts chopping like an expert in the kitchen?. If you want to learn those kinds of chopping skills for real, it’s easier to try and get a culinary arts degree than become a secret assassin. Even then, it's not easy!

Of course there are plenty of excellent reasons for committing long-term to a gourmet cooking course to get a degree in the culinary arts besides learning to speed chop. First of all, if you have a passion for cooking, a degree will open all kinds of doors for you in the restaurant business. And if that appeals to you, then you will have to commit to a minimum of three years before you have a qualification that will carry enough clout to set you on a lucrative career path in the cooking industry. That’s why you need passion. A 30-second dream can take half a lifetime to realize.

More than a chef

The field of culinary arts is a broad one. a chef is the first job that springs to mind. Turn on the TV, and you'll see professional chefs entertaining us, introducing us to new ideas and touting their branded kitchenware. But there are many other equally satisfying jobs behind the scenes, including:

• restaraunteur
• owner of a catering company
• food and beverage manager
• sales manager for a major food or cookware brand
• government health inspector
• hygiene councillor

Although it’s not a requirement to enter the food industry, a degree in culinary arts will pave the way for the highest paid positions. On a culinary arts degree course, you'll learn everything from nutrition and cooking to law and accounting. Many cooking schools teach the business aspects of the food industry, so you can expect some in-depth tuition on business management and running IT programs such as CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems. You may even get to play with foodstuffs in a laboratory to better understand the complex chemistry that takes place in the kitchen.

Managing people

Mixing and warming food up is only one half of the chemistry that makes up the culinary sector. People chemistry is at least of equal importance. You'll learn all about handling your clients - and about effective marketing and communicating to the food industry. But you'll also be taught how to manage the people who will be working with you, either in the kitchen or in business administration. That's why nearly any degree in culinary arts will include an integrated practical component.

The practical aspects of a bachelor degree course are key to success both during the course, and afterward when you are looking for employment. You'll need more than a fancy chopping technique to make an impression on hardened professionals. Developing great people skills is essential. You'll need to be able to manage a kitchen from food purchasing and hygiene, to communicating clearly in the heat of a busy kitchen. you'll need to be able to plan. But most of all, you'll need to have a transparent and infectious passion for food if you're going to make it in the professional kitchen environment.