Cooking    with     Class Sarah Labensky

Illustration: Adam Powell

Your family says you're a terrific cook. Your friends think you should open a restaurant. You wish you could flee the dog-eat-dog corporate world for one in which fresh foié gras, baby artichokes and pâte au chou yield to your management skills. You're beginning to fantasize about going to culinary school. Sounds like it's time for some culinary-career counseling.

You know you want to go to culinary school, but should you? Is a professional culinary arts education right for you? If so, what should you look for in a school? If you don't go to school, will you ever land a decent job? If you do go to school, will you be any better qualified, or earn any more money than you would without that piece of paper? As with most things in life, the answer is a definite "it depends." A degree from a well-respected culinary arts institution is an excellent way to launch or enhance a culinary career. A good school will provide you with the fundamental skills and technical knowledge necessary to excel in a field that is clearly expected to continue growing well into the twenty-first century. A good school will do this in an orderly, time-efficient manner, exposing you to more information, more quickly than an apprenticeship or on-the-job training. A good culinary education will allow you to get a foot in the door at hotels or restaurants that wouldn't consider you otherwise. And education may help you earn more money along the way. So, how do you judge whether a specific school is right for you? Ask questions. If possible observe the school's kitchens and classrooms in use. Talk to graduates and the employers of graduates. Dine in the school's restaurant. Getting accepted into a culinary school is rarely as difficult as you might suppose. You can afford to be choosey because the number of schools is growing rapidly. So, the need for students to fill those schools is expanding accordingly. An applicant's ability to pay is often the only real criteria for acceptance, especially in proprietary or for-profit schools.

The most important factors of a good culinary education are the work experience and attitude of instructors (note, I didn't say "credentials") and the student-teacher ratio. But a formal education is not for everyone, and an apprenticeship might be a better approach. The traditional European-style apprenticeship, usually lasts from three to five years, is available in most major US cities.

As a lawyer-turned-chef (hey, didn't everyone go to law school in the early '80s?) and instructor at a professional culinary arts school, I'm qualified to debunk the myths and focus on the reality of a culinary education. Myth: Culinary school graduates are chefs. Fact: Chef is a title of respect, most appropriately used for someone in a position of authority and responsibility. The title is earned after years of hard work and experience. Many excellent chefs never attended culinary school; many culinary school graduates will never possess the personal and professional skills needed to become a chef. Any school admission's officer who says otherwise is setting students up for a big disappointment. Myth: Cooks make good money. Fact: Sometimes. You won't graduate from culinary school and step into a six-figure salary as executive chef with a major hotel chain though. If you are a career-changing adult you must be prepared to start over again at the bottom of the career chain. Now is the time to reconsider that $20,000 student loan.

Myth: You can learn to cook by watching demonstrations. Fact: As with most skills in life, you learn by doing. A school that fails to offer students extensive hands-on experience is not training its students to be working chefs. Be careful to distinguish vocational education from avocational classes. If your goal is to cook for a restaurant or hotel, any culinary education that fails to include practical food service experience is inadequate. Myth: An externship is necessary for a complete education. Fact: Externships, internships, and work-study programs can be beneficial if they allow you entrance into a restaurant or hotel that wouldn't hire you otherwise. Beware of externships that take advantage of low-cost student labor. Remember, the wages you earn during an externship must be offset against your tuition fees.

Myth: European culinary schools are better than their US counterparts. Fact: Sometimes. In Europe, where apprenticeships are the norm, there is no tradition of formal culinary education. The US-style culinary school is rare and many of the well-known schools aren't intended for training working chefs. A few European schools do offer excellent academic and hands-on programs. Tuition and living expenses tend to be very high, but the payoff is immerse yourself in a different culture and its cuisine. Myth: Cooking in a restaurant is fun, creative, and a bit glamourous. Fact: Cooking in a restaurant is hot, grueling work. Unless you're the one in charge, your creativity most likely will be suppressed for the benefit of the restaurant's chef, theme concept, or bottom line. Besides, it's hard to feel glamourous leaving work at 1 a.m., after a 10-hour shift, with your hands cut and burned, your shoes splattered with beef blood, and your hair smelling like old deep-fryer grease. But for a few select chefs cooking professionally can be fun, creative, and, yes, a bit glamorous.

Now you know the work is often hard and the pay is sometimes low, but still, you love to cook. Your current career is going nowhere and you fondly recall working your way through college by flipping burgers. Should you ditch it all and go to cooking school? Yes. You may have to put the rest of your life on hold for 9 to 18 months, but you'll be doing something you enjoy. You will have pursued your dream, learned a great deal, and done something you love. Take it from me, it's worth it.

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