Culinary Arts Facts
Culinary arts is a broad field that contains many different specializations. Depending upon which type of culinary art you want to enter, training will vary. In some instances, no formal training is needed. Culinary artists need to know prepare and understand the science of food, diet, and nutrition as well as know safe food handling procedures.
Definition
Simply put, culinary arts can be defined as the "art of cooking," as the term "culinary" means anything dealing with kitchens or cooking. Someone who works within the culinary arts field is a culinarian or culinary artist. She works in a wide variety of settings, each requiring a different level of training and knowledge.
Career Possibilities
Culinary artists work in many fields and settings, such as schools, restaurants, hotels, cruise ships, resorts, military and government agencies, event planning facilities and firms, bakeries, fast food chains, hospitals and nursing homes. Whether formal culinary arts training is required depends upon the chosen field. For example, culinary arts training is not needed to work in a fast food restaurant; however, formal training is required to work as a chef in a five-star restaurant.
Training And Education
There are culinary arts institutions around the world, some of which specialize in a certain area like pastries, baking, or sugar arts. One of the most famous culinary arts education institutions is Le Cordon Bleu, which has 29 schools on five continents and is the largest culinary arts training institution in the world. To enter a culinary arts institute, one generally needs to have graduated from high school and be at least 18 years old; though there are some culinary arts programs geared toward minors.
Field Outlook
The demand for culinary artists is growing, and it is a competitive field. Those with specialized training and advanced education will have the best chances for career advancement, as many of the higher paying culinary arts jobs require formal education.
Specializations
There are many different types of culinary arts such as sports diet and nutrition (cooking for athletes), baking, pastries, sugar arts, chocolate arts, French cuisine, Asian cuisine, special needs diets (typically for hospital patients and those in nursing homes), children's nutrition (typically seen in daycares and schools), organic cooking, vegan cooking, mixology or bartending, event cooking (most often done by professional caterers), and personal cooking (which is done by personal chefs).
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