Culinary Arts Schools Open the Way for Your Career as a Chef

By Sarah Jane Udall

Culinary arts schools offer you a hands-on education in the many facets of cooking from menu planning to knife skills. If you're looking for a career in the culinary arts, a cooking school can expedite your entrance into this exciting arena. A culinary arts school provides the knowledge, training, and skills to become anything from a fish expert to a pastry chef.

Culinary School Curriculum

For a hands-on curriculum that can include cooking and baking, the design and creation of different foods, and the theoretical knowledge behind the culinary arts, enrolling in culinary school can provide the base for your culinary development. Culinary school classes also focus on your skill development, palate training, speed, and teamwork.

Culinary Coursework Specifics

In a culinary arts school, you begin by training your own palate and learning how to taste. You also learn to appreciate the subtleties of a wide variety of foods so that you can best prepare them and use them to complement one another. Culinary coursework also teaches different cooking techniques such as cutting and knife skills, the difference between dry- and moist-heat cooking methods, sauce making, pastry making, baking, and more.

As you grow more confident in these basic skills, your coursework teaches you how to prepare increasingly complex dishes and how to plan and present different recipes and menus on your own.

Cooking School Size and Cost

Most cooking schools are small in size to ensure individual attention. They are also taught in professionally equipped kitchens. The cost of attending a culinary academy or local career school that offers culinary arts programs varies, but fees typically include tuition, uniforms, knives, and other baking tools.

With the right culinary school, you can find yourself well on your way to a rewarding career.

Featured Schools

Salter College

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Enrich your life and advance your career with a liberal arts education from Salter College.

Campus Locations:
  • West Boylston
Programs:
  • Culinary Arts
Branford Hall Career Institute

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Get the career you want at Branford Hall Career Institute.

Campus Locations:
  • Springfield
Programs:
  • Culinary Arts
Culinary Institute of America

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The Culinary Institute of America can prepare you for an exciting career in foodservice.

Campus Locations:
  • Hyde Park
Programs:
  • Culinary Arts
  • Culinary Arts Management
The Art Institutes

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Develop your portfolio at The Art Institutes, and get a competitive advantage.

Campus Locations:
  • Atlanta
  • Virginia Beach
  • Chicago
  • Tampa
  • San Antonio
  • Charleston
  • San Bernardino
  • Sacramento
  • Minneapolis
  • Dallas
  • Durham
  • Houston
  • Phoenix
  • Indianapolis
  • Fort Lauderdale
  • San Diego
  • San Francisco
  • Overland Park
  • Sunnyvale
  • Draper
  • Austin
  • Vancouver
  • Arlington
  • Tucson
  • Seattle
  • Jacksonville
  • Santa Monica
  • Cincinnati
  • Nashville
  • Novi
  • Philadelphia
  • Charlotte
  • Pittsburgh
  • Santa Ana
  • Portland
  • Henderson
  • North Hollywood
  • Denver
Programs:
  • Culinary Arts Level 2 (C)
  • Culinary Arts Level 1 (C)
Sullivan University

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All the schools in the Sullivan University System focus their programs on career-specific courses only-so you can get the education you need faster.

Campus Locations:
  • Lexington
Programs:
  • Culinary Arts
  • Professional Cook
Remington College

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Enhance your marketable skill set quickly with Remington College.

Campus Locations:
  • Garland
Programs:
  • AAS in Culinary Arts program
  • Diploma in Pastry Arts
Le Cordon Bleu Schools of North America

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Bring Your Fire to the Plate. Le Cordon Bleu. Learn the Way.

Campus Locations:
  • Portland
  • Cambridge
  • Seattle
  • Saint Peters
  • Austin
  • Dallas
  • Scottsdale
  • Hollywood
  • San Francisco
  • Orlando
  • Pasadena
  • Chicago
Programs:
  • Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Scottsdale - Certificate in Culinary Arts
  • Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Orlando - 12 Month Certificate in Culinary Arts