Attending Culinary School

[MrGrunge]

Hey all, I'm currently in the process of renovating my life. I've been going to college for the past two years, and have recently decided that my intended degree course (Psychology) is clearly not for me. After much soul-searching, I have decided to pursue a culinary arts degree at a local community college which offers a nationally-recognized culinary program. I've never had any formal training, but I've worked at a few fast food restaurants (not McDonalds or Burger King or anything like that...places that served actual good food, just quickly.) and I've always thoroughly enjoyed it, but I know that I'm missing quite a few necessary skills for working in a legitimate restaurant.

So, to those of you with CA degrees, or just those who have worked as line/prep/assistant cooks, what are the skills I should focus on acquiring the most? Are there any educational materials you would recommend reading/watching in order to improve my proficiency in the kitchen? Are there any secrets that I should know about cooking or the restaurant industry in general?

Any help is appreciated, I wanna make sure that I can hit the ground running.

 

[zapatista]

If you are in the US, learn Spanish so you can communicate with most of the staff. Be ready to work hard hours for minimum wage for a good while before you get to be a chef of any type(with or without school). Not trying to discourage you, but make sure that you work in a good restaurant for a while before you invest into entering a program. Go to the Culinary Institute of America website and watch some of the instructional videos that are there for free*. Try finding the CIA books on Amazon and buy them used to save yourself some money. If after doing some self study, working in restaurant for a while and still loving what your doing, then go ahead and enroll in a program to seal your experience with a degree.

*The videos got turned into podcast. minimal fees
Also, sounds stupid, but just watch the cooking channels

 

[I NUK3D U]

I don't have any advice, but I just thought I'd say I'm really jealous!!

I got caught up in the business world unfortunately, and it's not until I was well into my late twenties that I realised I had a passion and talent for food. Never say never; but it's probably too late to start anything significant for me.

Congrats for having the balls to change to something new, and keep us updated

 

[llama112]

I don't have much advice either but I realized (after a diploma in secretarial studies) that baking is my passion. I love cooking too but baking is where my heart is! Unfortunately I wasted all my money on secretarial studies because my parents pushed me in that direction

Maybe in a few years ... :s

Good luck though, let us know how it goes!