Culinary School: Is It Worth It?
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
It seems that every January, I freak out and try to overhaul my life. I can take a somewhat militant approach to my new year’s resolutions, vowing to spend the next twelve months diligently steering myself ever-closer to this idealized version of Kaitlin. A Kaitlin who cooks, a Kaitlin who writes, a Kaitlin who decides what she wants to be and does it on purpose.
And January 2025 is proving to be no different. Ever since the ball dropped at midnight, I have been plagued by twinkling dreams of culinary school.
“Maybe I could take night classes… just beef up my skills a little bit…”
“What if I rented a cabin in Shenandoah for a week and took a couple classes at Pippin Hill Farms?…. its so beautiful out there…”
“I wonder if office jobs do sabbaticals….”
I can’t stop turning this dream over in my mind. What if I uprooted my life, went to culinary school and started a business? Would it be worth it? Would I be wasting my money?
I remember reading Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential in college. At the time, I was dating a guy who had just graduated from CIA and got a job at Aquavit, a Scandinavian restaurant in NYC with two Michelin stars. I had watched every episode of Chef’s Table and went into crazy credit card debt eating at every “top rated” restaurant that I could on my lunch breaks at the Publishing House. So, you could say I was pretty brainwashed by this idea of high-end cookery. I remember reading Kitchen Confidential, reading about this sort of wild-west, rock and roll cooking lifestyle and thinking: oh, how f*cking cool…
But! I just recently re-read Bourdain’s book…. and it’s a little different from what I remember.
He warns: “…The kitchen is no place for dilettantes or slackers. Only those with a masochistic dedication to cooking will remain undeterred.”
No Dilettantes you say…. hmmmm
Jokes aside, that struck me. As much as I do have a dedicated passion for cooking, my sights are aimed at small-scale entrepreneurship and not so much working as a line cook in a restaurant. Would a full-on culinary program really benefit me? Probably not.
So that got me thinking: who would benefit from culinary school?
I’ve come to the conclusion that culinary school, much like other forms of higher education, is kind of just a piece of paper. Even if you did graduate from some prestigious program, you’re still going to be just as green and wet behind the ears at your first job as anybody else. True training comes from on the job experience, not seminars.
However, much like college, the real benefit isn’t in the fundamental training but rather the soft skills you develop while there. The networking, the socialization, the proximity you have to other people who are interested in the same things you are —- all of that is invaluable to becoming successful. It teaches you the “language” of that world. If that’s what you’re looking to gain, then yes, culinary school is worth it.
I want to hear what you think! Did you go to Culinary School? Do you work in restaurants? What’s your opinion on the whole situation? Comment below!