(CIP: 120503)

The Culinary Arts Program, accredited by the American Culinary Federation, is designed to meet the demands for well-trained food service personnel with an emphasis on development of basic techniques of commercial food preparation. Exposure to many facets of food preparation as well as nutrition, sanitation, menu planning, and personnel management used by the professional culinarian are included in the program. Hands-on experience is a high priority in the laboratory classes, building a solid foundation of basic cooking skills. Upon completion of the program students can obtain employment as cook, baker, sous chef, kitchen manager or supervisor, lead cook in restaurants, hotels, catering operations and other food service organizations. The program provides students with the opportunity to meet the requirements for certification by the American Culinary Federation.

In addition to General Education Outcomes, upon completion of this program, graduates will be able to:

• Demonstrate expertise in preparation of breakfast, lunch and dinner items using ingredients that are wholesome, sanitary and nutritious.
• Demonstrate baking principles to prepare and serve pastries and sweets
• Manage people with respect to their many diversities.
• Select and prepare meat, seafood and poultry items for service; choose accompaniments for each dish emphasizing different cultures.
• Use and care for equipment normally found in the culinary kitchen.
• Develop an understanding of basic principles of sanitation and safety and ability to apply the sanitation principles of food preparation.
• Develop skills in knife, tool and equipment handling and ability to apply skills in food preparation.
• Develop skills in producing a variety of cold food products and buffet designs.
• Apply fundamentals of baking and pastry preparation to a variety of products.
• Demonstrate an understanding of quality customer service.
• Prepare items for buffet presentations including tallow carvings, bread sculpting and ice carvings.
• Prepare for transition from employee to supervisor.
• Apply principles of menu planning and layout for development of menus in a variety of facilities and service options.
• Apply knowledge of laws and regulations relating to safety and sanitation in the commercial kitchen.

The program course requirements are presented in sequence. Part-time students and others who cannot follow this sequence should check course descriptions in the catalog to determine prerequisites and, in addition, should consult their academic advisor regarding the order in which they take courses.

Uniforms are required for CART 131 , CART 145 , CART 151 , CART 159 , CART 231 , CART 240  and CART 241 .

Job Titles: Back Line Cook, Banquet Cook, Breakfast Cook, Cook, Fry Cook, Grill Cook, Line Cook, Pastry Baker, Prep Cook

Wage and Employment Trends:

• $18,570 - $20,390 Annual Salary (2016)
• $8.93 to $9.80 per hour
• 62,800 Projected job openings between 2014-2024

CIP: 12.0503 NCES CIP Title Associated with Major: Culinary Arts/Chef Training.