Where Top Chefs Attended Cooking School

Need inspiration to find the right cooking school? See where top chefs trained.

We revere those who prepare our food. Whether it's Mom's home cooking or a gourmet chef's exquisite concoction, there's no lack of gratitude towards those who feed us. While top chefs fill our stomachs with their culinary creations, they sometimes also fill us with envy for their thriving careers.

Although there are a few self-made chefs out there, most attended cooking school. If you're passionate about cooking unforgettable fillet mignon and icing cakes to perfection, culinary school might be something to consider. With training and determination, you can start your own enviable culinary career.

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Top Chefs Who Attended Cooking School

Looking for inspiration? Here is where some of the crème de la crème of the cooking world studied:

Emeril Lagasse – The Food Network personality and owner of many restaurants has made quite a fortune from cooking. He attended cooking school at Johnson and Wales after turning down a full scholarship to study music at the New England Conservatory of Music. Talk about talent! Lagasse also supports a number of charities through the Emeril Lagasse Foundation.

Ann Cooper – She calls herself the "Renegade Lunch Lady." A former celebrity chef, who once cooked for the Grateful Dead, Chef Ann is now giving public school cafeterias around the country a major facelift. She's currently Director of Nutrition at Berkeley Public Schools where she has replaced all canned and processed foods with fresh meat and vegetables and baked goods from local bakeries. Cooper studied at the Culinary Institute of America.

Erika Bruce – Bruce is a test cook on America's Test Kitchen, public television's most popular cooking show. On the show, test cooks like Bruce experiment with recipes and tinker with cooking tools to find out what works and what doesn't. Bruce attended the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.

Walter Scheib –As the executive chef at the White House for 11 years, Scheib was in charge of preparing meals for the First Family. Scheib's book about his experiences White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen came out in January, 2007. He graduated with highest honors from the Culinary Institute of America in New York in 1979.

Julia Child – She's the queen mother of the culinary industry. In 1948, while her husband, an officer for a federal government agency, was posted in Paris, Child enrolled in the world famous Cordon Bleu cooking school. There was no turning back. After just six months of training, Child and two of her classmates opened up a cooking school of their own called L'Ecole de Trois Gourmandes. They also published a book together called Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Child promoted the book in the U.S. and one Boston public broadcasting station found her so charismatic they gave her a cooking show of her own. The show was an immense hit—it was syndicated all over the country and won many awards, including an Emmy.

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