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America\u2019s culinary schools are feeling the heat.<\/p>\n
When chef Gordon Ramsay appeared on an episode of the YouTube series \u201cLast Meal<\/a>\u201d in January 2024, he described U.S. culinary schools as \u201cdepressing\u201d places that \u201csandbag\u201d students with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt before releasing them\u00a0into a low-wage industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n He added that graduates are pressured to select jobs that will put them in the best position to pay off their loans, rather than ones that will give them opportunities to learn and grow as chefs. Ramsay singled out the Culinary Institute of America, one of the most prestigious cooking schools in the country, as it sets students at its New York campus back\u00a0US$52,090<\/a>\u00a0per academic year.<\/p>\n Then, at the end of February, The New York Times published\u00a0a compilation of interviews from 30 chefs around the U.S<\/a>. They chimed in on a range of topics, but they were pretty much in lockstep when it came to culinary degrees:<\/p>\n \u201cPeople ask me, \u2018What\u2019s a good culinary school to go to?\u2019\u201d chef Justin Pioche said. \u201cAnd I always tell them: Don\u2019t go.\u201d<\/p>\n Chef Robynne Maii added, \u201cI always sing the praises of culinary school, but in community colleges only. All the for-profit schools need to go away. They\u2019re completely unnecessary and they\u2019re predatory.\u201d<\/p>\n These sentiments are not unique to culinary schools.<\/p>\n Trade, technical and for-profit schools are routinely criticized for their lopsided cost-to-benefit ratio, with scholars such as\u00a0Tressie McMillan Cottom<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0A.J. Angulo<\/a>\u00a0arguing that many of them have predatory financial processes baked into their business models. There has been a similar critique \u2013 often tinged with political undercurrents \u2013 over\u00a0graduate degrees in the humanities, arts and social sciences<\/a>,\u00a0described by the Wall Street Journal<\/a>\u00a0as \u201celite master\u2019s degrees that don\u2019t pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet thousands of aspiring chefs continue to enroll in expensive culinary schools, rather than learn on the job while being paid. And in\u00a0the research for my book on notions of success in the culinary industry<\/a>, I found that many graduates from these institutions actually feel their experiences were worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n What might explain this paradox?<\/p>\n Cooks and chefs\u00a0regularly<\/a>\u00a0debate<\/a>\u00a0the merits of culinary school.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also a question I asked 50 U.S.-based kitchen workers during a study I conducted from 2018 to 2020. Of those 50 workers, 22 had attended culinary school. And of those 22 chefs, 17 believed their education was worth the cost \u2013 over three-quarters.<\/p>\n They were clear-eyed about how much they would earn after graduation \u2013 very little \u2013 and they also grasped that the debt would constrain their future work choices.<\/p>\n Yet, to them, the worth of their schooling didn\u2019t hinge on wages and earning power.<\/p>\n Instead, they found immense value in the friendships and connections they forged \u2013 and in learning the culture of commercial kitchens. Social scientists have terms for these benefits:\u00a0social capital<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0cultural capital<\/a>.<\/p>\n Interviewees described being able to meet mentors through school events, gain experience in award-winning kitchens through internships, form relationships with classmates and always have a degree to point to as proof of know-how.<\/p>\n Culinary school was particularly helpful for individuals who felt socially disadvantaged in some way. They may have lacked connections and experience, or they were a minority in an industry where\u00a0white men are more likely to serve as executive chefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I am a female it was harder for me to get a sous-chef job,\u201d one chef explained to me. \u201cI mean, I saw kids who were not nearly as skilled as I was who got sous-chef positions, and I\u2019d always get passed up. But I really feel that that education [from the Culinary Institute of America] \u2013 especially as a woman \u2013 really helped me. A lot. I would\u2019ve never got the jobs I got without it.\u201d<\/p>\n In her 2015 book \u201cAt The Chef\u2019s Table<\/a>,\u201d sociologist Vanina Leschziner found that elite chefs claim to not weigh academic degrees highly while hiring,\u00a0a sentiment also found by the food website Eater<\/a>. At the same time, Leschziner found that 85% of elite chefs in San Francisco and New York were culinary school graduates, with 67% holding degrees from the Culinary Institute of America.<\/p>\n At face value, it\u2019s possible that degrees and certificates are dismissed or overlooked during the hiring process. But social connections are not. So perhaps the networks and friendships formed during schooling are a big reason why most high-status restaurants are staffed by culinary school graduates.<\/p>\n With these industry realities in mind, culinary school doesn\u2019t seem to \u201csandbag\u201d students; instead, it helps them overcome barriers that they ordinarily couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Based on my interviewees\u2019 enthusiasm, culinary school degrees seem like a no-brainer. But there are caveats.<\/p>\n First, these largely positive perceptions of culinary school came primarily from students who had gone to the Culinary Institute of America. Attendees of college or for-profit programs, such as the\u00a0now-shuttered U.S. Le Cordon Bleu campuses<\/a>, were less pleased about their experience, with just 66% feeling like their degree was worth it, compared with 90% of those I interviewed with degrees from the Culinary Institute of America. While some of this discontent was due to quality of instruction, a large part was related to schools\u2019 prestige.<\/p>\n There are about\u00a0260 culinary programs across the nation<\/a>. Schools at the top of the hierarchy, such as the Culinary Institute of America and the Institute of Culinary Education, are seen as places where high-status networks can be honed. This is, in part, a result of filtering out those who can\u2019t afford to pay.<\/p>\n A degree from a top school is associated with the high-caliber restaurants and chefs that Leschziner wrote about; a degree from a lesser-known program likely yields far less social and cultural capital.<\/p>\n Second, I spoke only to individuals who still work in the industry, and that\u2019s just a fraction of the culinary school population. Not all who attend remain in the industry. In fact, my interviewees estimated that only one-third of their classmates still cooked professionally.<\/p>\n Those who stick around likely present a more positive take: They had finished school and had found some measure of success\u00a0in a notoriously brutal industry<\/a>. Had I spoken to the two-thirds of graduates who had left the industry, this article might read differently.<\/p>\n Finally, because students devote a lot of time and money to an experience that yields little financial return on investment, adopting a rosy outlook on their schooling may smooth over\u00a0any inner turmoil that might arise<\/a>\u00a0as they judge themselves and their past decisions.<\/p>\n Determining the value of expensive culinary education is tough.<\/p>\n It can also detract from the very real problem of predatory and overpriced schooling, especially as the cost of higher education \u2013 in all forms \u2013\u00a0continues to rise<\/a>, to the point of excluding large swaths of the population.<\/p>\n What\u2019s clear to me, though, is that finances are not the sole \u2013 nor most important \u2013 reason why people choose to attend pricey culinary programs. My interviewees viewed culinary school as a social experience, one that provides meaningful networking and cultural opportunities to students and alumni.<\/p>\n As one award-winning chef told me, \u201cIf I wouldn\u2019t have gone (to the Culinary Institute of America), I wouldn\u2019t have gotten (my first) job as a personal chef. \u2026 Anytime people see (Culinary Institute of America) on the resume \u2013 whether it should or shouldn\u2019t \u2013 it does open doors. So, I\u2019m really glad I went there.\u201d<\/p>\nBeyond dollars and cents<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Not all culinary schools are alike<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A foot in the door<\/strong><\/h4>\n