What are some challenges that culinary art students have to face?

You might want to Google "What is military boot camp like", and you’ll find the answer there.

And I’m NOT pulling your leg. That EXACTLY what it’s like I was professionally trained at Le Cordon Bleu in London, England in 1982. That particular location of the LCB accredited schools closed shortly thereafter.

As everything in life, Culinary School ain’t for the general populous…….

What you can expect:

Being "broken down" and yelled at, and a LOT and MANY times during the day.

Burns, scalds, cuts, bumps bruises, and WASHING so many other cook’s dishes that you’ll swear that you’ll never do another dish in your lifetime.

Chefs that are demanding, demeaning, strict, loud, can be overbearing, "in your face"…….

Countless hours of prepping, peeling, julienne, cutting, chopping, slicing, whipping, weighing, measuring, (you want me to keep going??) You get my drift………..

Culinary schooling is like that because that’s what the environment in a commercial kitchen is like:

A cacophony of sounds, yelling across the huge expanse of a kitchen, or the opposite, 7 chefs in a kitchen the size of a shoebox……..It can be maddening, and most (read: 60 %) walk away.

The challenge is enormous the payoff is lifelong satisfaction.

Chef Christopher K
Graduate, Le Cordon Bleu, LCB Le Grande Diplome.

Well, the challenges will really vary from each student and from each school. If you have never worked in a commercial kitchen before, It can be very stressful to get used to the fast paced surroundings involved in the food service industry.

Also, for some people, the equipment you deal with everyday can be very intimidating. You can’t be afraid to cut yourself, get burnt, or have to handle raw meat. As long as these are not big problems for you, you will have no problems at all!

Everyone will have different struggles, but it gets really easy over time. You just gotta stick with it!

Cooking

This really depends on the school you are going to and their curriculum.

When I went to culinary school the most stress was around various tests. You had a whole bunch of written tests which for the most part were not that easy. The whole thing were you had to identify each and every part of a cow was not that easy. Then on top of that they gave me a whole bunch of non written tests which include knife skills, actual cooking skills, baking, butchering etc.

Then on top of that if you do not have any prior actual experience (I didn’t) you have to deal with very low wages for a few years once you get out of the school that was rough. I had to live off poverty level wages for almost 3 years before I got to the spot I am in today.