Culinary Arts Majors: Schools, Careers, and Skills

The Culinary Arts major is popularly considered the official “chef” cooking program, as opposed to the baking and pastry arts degree. Depending upon the cooking school you attend this major could be Bachelors, Associates, Diploma or a Certificate program.

Find out right now what schools offer the major, how long it will take you to earn, and what kind of job you can land once you graduate.

Schools that Offer Culinary Arts Majors

First let’s review the types of schools that might provide a culinary arts major:

• Local community colleges
• Vocational and technical schools, notably the Art Institutes’ International Culinary programs
• Four-year liberal arts colleges, such as Johnson and Wales University
• Standalone culinary schools, such as Kitchen Academy, Le Cordon Bleu, and the French Culinary Institute

Culinary Arts Curriculum

A general culinary arts major could bundle a huge variety of courses into the package depending upon the degree you seek.

Diplomas and Certificates in Culinary Arts deliver culinary technique and skills. Building off of these most schools will then prepare you for entry-level restaurant jobs that could require you have experience as station chef. What does this mean? Your academic training at this level will focus on you working closely supervised by chef/instructors who will train you to work the various kitchen stations, such as grill, garde manger, sauté, and fry cook. Expect to devote from 6 months to a year for certificate or diploma culinary arts majors.

Associates degrees in Culinary Arts usually involve a two-year time investment if you attend full-time. Expect to be steeped in kitchen skills, especially knife and cutlery skills, all types of professional cooking equipment, various cooking styles and methods. Beyond this you get basic cuisines, possibly with emphasis on classic French, basic food inventory, storage, hygiene and sanitation. You learn presentation, and become comfortable with the various cook stations in a professional kitchen.

Bachelors degrees in Culinary Arts take you well beyond the curriculum included in an Associates program. At this level you will learn basic kitchen management, perhaps the role played by sous chef, assist with menu development and learn what it takes to find your own creative cooking personality. You play a much more significant role in training assistant and apprentice chefs, overseeing inventory control, cost control, and you might be introduced to specialized areas of diet and nutrition, event cooking, and competition.

What You Can Do with a Culinary Arts Major

Be a chef. Plain and simple. But here’s the deal: just because you graduate with a major in culinary arts doesn’t mean you automatically earn a particular level of chef job. Expect to start at the bottom of the restaurant ladder and be grateful for that. Why? If you really are passionate about cooking as a career then you will gladly do whatever it takes to make it work. Remember, many of today’s celebrity chefs—a lot of them cash cows—started off washing dishes or chopping vegetables.