The Best Cooking Schools and Classes for Home Cooks

Want a carrer in the culinary arts or restaurant management? Or just a few night classes in cooking Chinese? Or a day in Tuscany with a local pro? This list is by no means complete, but it is a start.

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Accredited degree granting institutions

The Art Institutes. A chain of schools across the land offering degrees in culkinary arts, culinary management, and other creative endeavors from photograpy to fashion design and web design.

Culinary Institute of America. The original location in Poughkipsie, NY, just north of NYC in the Hudson Valley is considered one of the finest cooking and management schools in the world. Period. And the location is breathtaking. There is also a location in Napa Valley that is held in equal regard. And the wine is better there.

Cornell University's School of Hotel and Management. Regarded as the best in class, its strength is management although food and drink are by no means ignored.

French Culinary Institute. Can you think of a better place to study food than in Manhattan? Many luminary chefs came through this route. Bobby Flay was in their first graduating class.

Kendall College. An independant culinary arts and baking school in Chicago offering four year baccalaureate degrees. An engaging faculty that has earned it high regard. They also offer degrees in education.

Le Cordon Bleu. The original. the one Julia Child went to, is in Paris, but they have franchised around the world, and in the US there are many across the country offering baking and culinary arts degrees in two years. Some locations are regarded better than others, and they ain't cheap, but they have turned out some great chefs.

Michigan State University School of Hospitality Business. Ranked right up there with Cornell as the place to go for hotel and restaurant management.

Santa Rosa Community College. In addition to the necessary two-year AA degree programs in the arts and sciences, SRCC has culinary arts and probably the best two year program in viticulture, enology, and marketing.

University of California. There are two campuses whose wine programs are considered the best for grape growing and wine making, perhaps in the world: UC Davis and UC Fresno. Which one is better. If I try to answer that I might get shot.

Smaller schools and classes just for fun

Judy Witts Francini is a real market maven, an Italian cooking teacher, a food and wine writer of note, and Italian life coach. She began her culinary life as a pastry chef in a 5-star hotel in San Francisco after a year long trip to Europe. A passion for travel and a love of food brought her to Florence, Italy in 1984, where she fell in love with a city and a man. Her custom culinary programs are a full immersion in "being Italian" and anyone heading to this ancient city with a rich culinary tradition should consider taking a class. In addition, her website has an online dining guide for Florence and Chianti and her blog has the latest on what's going on in the Tuscany.

...more to come (to be notified when new recipes and other articles come online, be sure to subscribe to my free, spam free, email newsletter).

This page was updated on 11/16/2009