Culinary Arts

The Culinary Arts program in the Pickens Human Services pathway offers you plenty of experience and the ability to learn about how different foods work together, how to prepare excellent classic dishes, and the ever-important business side of any culinary enterprise. It might be difficult to imagine now, in the middle of learning how to use knives safely and how to complement flavors, but you’re at the beginning of an exciting career. The culinary scene, not only in many cities around the United States but the entire world, is changing rapidly. Traditions all over the world are being challenged by new, young, upcoming chefs.

Part of the reason for this change is the new blood entering the industry. Popularized by celebrity chefs and cooking shows, many people are considering a career in culinary arts. The food industry all over the world continues to attract talent and rule-breaking disruptors who want to bring their own flavors and skills to the table, as it were. This is happening in the shadow of the late, great Anthony Bourdain in the US, but a new league of chefs all over the world is taking on new emphases in cooking and restaurant management. These new emphases promise to change the culinary world into which you’ll soon be emerging. What changes are on the horizon for the culinary arts in 2019?

Curriculum Driving Creativity

For centuries, the study of “proper” culinary arts remained more or less the same. Cooking institutions all over the world covered how to make classic French dishes, for example, in the same way. The fundamentals of gastronomy were the same for nearly every culinary institute across the globe.

Today, chefs and aspiring chefs have a bit more latitude to experiment and try new things. There is more of an emphasis on creativity in the kitchen over the same recipes every chef knows. Part of the reason for this is the influx of new people, encouraged by the increased visibility of chefs in the media in recent decades. Another reason is that restaurants the world over are competing more fiercely for customers who are beginning to expect and demand more from the eateries they visit.

Emphasis on Entrepreneurism

As the culinary industry expands in many places, more chefs are striking out on their own sooner than before. This doesn’t mean you need to start your own restaurant in the booming and competitive Denver culinary market, it just means you and many culinary students, new chefs, and restaurant workers are being encouraged to try things for themselves.

Pickens’ training has always been geared for business success in all programs, but in the culinary industry, having the ability to make business decisions from the kitchen, working with teams, training others, and managing a workforce is much more important than ever before.

A New Industry

Young chefs are challenging the norms in the culinary industry every day. When you complete the Culinary Arts program at Pickens, you’ll find a much different environment than many chefs and culinary experts before you. Fortunately, Pickens is responding to these changing dynamics to make you ready.