Culinary schools in the North Bay are sizzling.
“Upon arrival at the farm, you’ll be greeted with a chilled white peach Bellini and ripe heirloom peach samples by farm owners Gayle and Brian Sullivan before they lead you on a tour of the beautiful orchard at the peak of harvest….”
So begins the class description of Relish Culinary School’s class, titled “On the Farm: Dry Creek Peach.” Obviously, cooking schools have come a long way since the days when The Culinary Institute of America, the first career-oriented one, opened in Connecticut in 1946 with the purpose of providing vocational training to World War II veterans. Since then, it’s moved its primary location to New York and also opened its Greystone location in St. Helena in 1995.
Culinary schools are one of the fastest-growing educational sectors in the United States, and the history of this relatively new program of study is as varied as the food service industry itself.
Before organized cooking schools were established in the United States, those who sought a career in the culinary arts usually completed apprenticeships under seasoned chefs to gain on-the-job training. In 1976, the American Culinary Federation Educational Institute (ACFEI) began coordinating apprenticeship programs with the help of a government grant.
Today, apprenticeships continue to offer an excellent culinary experience to aspiring chefs, and the ACFEI apprenticeship program is currently the seventh largest apprenticeship system in the nation. There are also more than 90 culinary schools accredited by the ACFEI in the United States today, and more than 1,000 schools, colleges, culinary apprenticeships, cooking vacations and other culinary organizations worldwide.
Today, culinary institutes cater to everyone from the home cook, to aspiring professional chefs, to chefs requiring continuing education and even to children and teens. And not only does the target market for culinary institutes vary widely, the institutes themselves are quite diverse in the types, structure and length of classes offered. In fact, it seems there are almost as many types of schools as there are styles of cooking.
Organic cooking
It comes as no surprise that the North Bay, which prides itself on a rich agricultural industry with an abundance of fresh, unique and organic ingredients, is also home to the very first certified organic cooking school in the country.
“Since I’ve opened [in 2003], I’ve only used organic produce. That’s how I’ve cooked for 20 years, so it was just a natural thing to do,” explains Patty James, founder and director of Patty James Cooking School and Nutrition Center in Sebastopol. “About eight months ago, I decided that, even though I’ve always done this, I’m going to get certified through CCOF [California Certified Organic Farmers]. Nobody had done it before, and when I spoke to the head of the USDA they were asking me what to do! So we just started the process. First we certified our land, then we certified everything I use in my school. Now I’m the first and only certified organic cooking school in the country.”
Much more than a standard cooking school, Patty James also offers nutritional consultations, educational presentations, programs, and events designed to educate individuals, businesses, schools and organizations about nutrition, health and organic foods.
Culinary careers
The North Bay also offers a number of options for those seeking a career in the culinary arts, including full degree and certificate programs at schools such as Santa Rosa Junior College and the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus.
“The school opened its doors [at the California campus] about 12 years ago with the intent of teaching very highly focused courses in continuing education,” explains Cate Conniff, communications manager for the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus. “Whether it was wine service, artisan breads or the foods of Italy, it was really a continuing education model. Shortly after we opened, we offered a 30-week baking and pastry arts certificate program.” Today, the Greystone Campus has also added an associate in occupational studies (A.O.S.) degree in culinary arts, an accelerated culinary arts certificate program (ACAP), and a professional wine studies program. It also offers professional international conferences and retreats.
Home cooking
For those seeking a shorter time commitment than required by a full degree program, or who would just like to improve their cooking skills one session at a time, the North Bay offers a plethora of weekend, one-day or even shorter sessions targeted to the home chef. Some, such as Patty James, offer the traditional cooking school facility. Others, such as Sur La Table, have combined cooking classes into a larger retail framework.
The first Sur La Table store opened in Seattle, Wash., in 1972, offering hard-to-find imported kitchenware. The successful retailer then established its first culinary arts program in Berkeley 11 years ago and has since expanded the program to 16 of its 62 stores across the country, including the one in Santa Rosa. Starting with classes such as “Essential Knife Skills,” and progressing to “Fresh Gnocchi Workshop” and “Autumn Pies and Tarts,” or theme classes such as “Friday Night Out: South of France” and “Sushi 101,” Sur La Table has classes to suit every level, style, and taste of home chef.
“[The culinary arts program] definitely helps with retail sales, but it also establishes lifelong customers,” says Kimberley Davis, corporate chef and culinary program manager for Sur La Table. “They come in as beginners, get more involved in specialties and may become bakers, for example. We have tons of baking tools and things you couldn’t find at other retail places. We definitely have a very large assortment [of kitchen tools], and we use some things in the classes that you can’t find in other stores, and we have exclusives on certain items.”
Another school, Relish in Healdsburg, doesn’t have a dedicated facility and instead offers classes at wineries, parks, art galleries, farms and private homes. Owner Donna del Rey first attempted to partner with local restaurants, but realized most restaurant kitchens weren’t set up, nor had the time, to accommodate cooking classes. So she decided to operate her “mobile” cooking school at other locations—thus creating one-of-a kind cooking classes. Through this business model, Relish supports local chefs, farmers and other Sonoma County food industry leaders. And she uses these connections to bolster her impressive list of class instructors.
“It was really out of necessity and experimentation that we came up with the business model we still have, which is this roving cooking school,” explains del Rey. “Now we’ve been around almost four years, we’ve never had a permanent location, and we do classes all around the area. It’s really kind of sparked something very unique that people love.”
With classes offered by Relish running the gamut from “Paella Party on the River” to “The Art of Wood Fired Cooking” to “Al Fresco Italian at Seghesio Winery,” it’s hard to imagine this business model working anywhere else in the country.
“I think our business would be very difficult to reproduce anywhere else,” agrees del Rey. “We’re fortunate to have an amazing array of scenic and interesting locations to choose from in Sonoma County. Our classes are very unique to the area—we combine diverse food providers, wonderful locations and, of course, excellent wines to create these exceptional culinary events. Whether it’s a scheduled class, a private cooking party or a corporate team-building event, guests are introduced to the people and food products that make Sonoma County a culinary destination.”
Site matters
Most schools in our area credit at least part of their success to the unique North Bay environment, which caters to food and wine lovers.
“A major difference in running a school here in Northern California is the absolutely fantastic culinary environment we’re living in,” says Charles Henning, managing director of the Culinary Institute of America. “The restaurants, chefs, agriculture and excitement surrounding food—and the opportunity for our students to experience all this diversity—is exceptional. It’s second to none.”
In addition to their studies, a whopping 75 percent of the CIA’s students work in the food industry to make the best out of their time in school and practice what they’re learning everyday in a real-world environment. Having so many excellent restaurants in our own back yard also increases employment opportunities, which in turn helps attract students here.
Cooking costs
While the North Bay may be the perfect setting for a culinary institute to reach its target market—whatever that may be—the industry isn’t without its challenges. And while having a sufficient target market certainly isn’t one of them, there are nevertheless significant entry barriers to any new cooking school. Not the least of these are high operating and startup costs, as commercial kitchens can be prohibitively expensive.
While every new venture—and almost everyone doing business in the North Bay—claims high costs (as a result of our high-priced area) as a major challenge, cooking schools are particularly hard hit because of the continuous food costs associated with their classes. Especially since most schools in this area use high-quality, fresh and often organic ingredients in their cooking, these expenditures can be prohibitive.
“At CIA Greystone, our operational costs are extremely high due to the cost of quality ingredients and supporting our exceptional faculty,” explains Henning. “There’s also the expense of maintaining a world-class and historic facility.”
So not only are operational expenses high, but cooking schools also tend to limit the number of students per class, ensuring proper supervision and high-quality instruction. For the CIA, this maximum ratio is 18 students to one teacher, whereas in other liberal art schools, there can easily be 30 to 40 pupils per class.
A lesser challenge, and one that’s slowly improving, especially for those schools focusing on healthy food in particular, is the public misperception that healthy food is tasteless and uninteresting.
“The challenge is getting people who have a vision in their head as to what health food is, to understand that this type of cooking isn’t only delicious, but it makes you feel so much better,” explains James. “They think it’s a kale leaf with some brown rice on top, but it’s just regular food. In fact, it’s better because the ingredients are better. But people somehow think health food is blah and flavorless.”
Stirring the pot
Along the same lines, many schools, especially those targeting the home chef, work hard to overcome the stereotype that cooking instruction can be pretentious and boring, and aim to create an environment that’s inviting and fun.
“The way we run our classes is very open and non-intimidating,” explains Davis. “We really encourage the students to get their hands in there. We take time with people—especially in our knife skills class, because that’s one of the key skills—to walk them through where they’re having trouble.”
Yet another challenge is the constant need to “stay fresh.” As consumers’ taste buds change, reflecting globalization and our diverse cultural area, schools have to be on top of trends in terms of what’s gaining popularity. As people travel more and become interested in other cultures, they want the ability to cook more ethnic dishes in their own homes.
“Keeping those students we bring in at the beginning level growing, and keeping them challenged [is our biggest challenge],” says Davis. “We want to keep all of our customer base challenged, which is hard because you want lifelong customers. They grow and evolve, and you have to keep touch points on all of the different segments. You have a little bit of beginner, a little intermediate and a few afficionado classes. You need it all, which is hard. You don’t want to exclude anyone; you don’t want the people who grow to leave your business because they’re not finding what they need, but you also don’t want your business to be so high-level that beginners are intimidated.”
To both alleviate some of these challenges as well as expand on and diversify service offerings, many schools have teamed up with local businesses, the tourism and agriculture industries as well as restaurants and wineries to offer conferences, special demonstrations and workshops, and food and wine pairings. In addition, this synergy between industry groups has also led to advances in the overall food culture and the public’s awareness on health and nutrition issues.
CIA Greystone’s conferences and retreats include Worlds of Flavor, which explores a different region’s cuisine each year (this year’s focus will be The Rise of Asia); Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives in conjunction with Harvard Medical School and Worlds of Healthy Flavors with the Harvard School of Public Health; and Flavor, Quality and American Menus, for which it teams with UC Davis to bring together leaders from the food service industry with culinarians and agriculturists to develop ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into the American diet. “Our conferences and retreats bring together leaders in world cuisine, food service, health care and agriculture to explore trends and to find culinary- and flavor-based solutions to some of the most pressing issues surrounding food and eating that we face today.”
Indeed, the future of cooking schools appears to be heating up, with people becoming more health conscious and wanting to learn how to make healthy food for their family. And as more and more studies appear that tout the virtues of sitting down to family meals (which are said to help children in school and in life), the trends point to a desire to slow down, know where food comes from and focus on fresh and local ingredients.
“We have a country that’s not in good shape nutritionally, and I think people understand that and know they have to do something about it,” says James. “I think that’s why the more statistics and information that’s out there, and the more people understand, the more people sign up for my classes and consultations and do program development, because they have to do something. Type 2 diabetes is 80 percent preventable. You have to educate people. It all starts with that.”
Charles Henning of the CIA agrees. “I think the public awareness of health issues, in general, has improved, and, more important, the correlation between health and the food you eat and the type of lifestyle you have,” he says. “I think that’s definitely a trend.”
And that’s good news for cooking schools poised to capitalize on this trend by educating people and helping them cook healthier for themselves and their families.
“I think there’s this whole return to food in a simple form, and I’m hoping we reflect that and are a vehicle for people to experience it and get back to cooking and dining together,” says del Rey. “This is a good thing to be a part of. It’s good for business, it’s good for farmers, it’s good for people and it’s good for families. Cooking together and sitting down and having a meal—these are all really positive things.”
In the words of Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.), “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.”
