What is it like going to culinary school? I get this question all the time, especially when volunteering at events like "Battle of the Bakers" or "Chocolate Conference." People come to the table, gingerly pick up your promo materials and start in. There's a look in their eyes - they ask questions in ways that make you think they just want to live out the fantasy of running away and joining the circus - and culinary school seems like a good version of that escapist clause.
Attending school is like anything else worth doing - it's work. It's math - that math you thought you'd never use again. If you didn't get it the first time, you'll do it over. It's learning, studying, memorizing, trial and error. There are assignments, pop quizzes, blowups, burn downs and yes, the bitter taste of failure.
There's something else, though, and I don't mean the cool knife cuts. There's the art of discovery, and let's face it, if you've done your day job every day for 6 months, how much discovery are you feeling?
Culinary school is a way to explore one of life's most basic attractions: food with taste.
As an example of what I mean, I give you the Duchesse potatoes above. As many spuds as I have peeled in my life, did I know they could be piped into attractive shapes? No. Did I know how to cut a potato into a cylinder and build a flower petal fan shape for Pommes Anna? Uh-uh. Had I ever made gnocchi from potatoes? Never. And it is like child's play flipping potato dough over fork tines.
Do I feel like a kid again when I make something with my hands? Well wouldn't you?
There is something absolutely marvelous about coming home from school and announcing, "look what I can do!"
