Artisan Cooking: Culinary School Isn't Just for Top Chefs

A New Cooking School for Beginners

No longer is artisan food solely the province of the master chef or the gourmet foodie. The high-quality ingredients, small-scale production and local emphasis that usually characterize artisan foods have proved inspiring even to those relatively new to cooking. Culinary school training isn't a prerequisite at England's new non-profit School of Artisan Food, for instance.

"At least half the people who are inquiring about the diploma course want to re-skill in something a bit more fun," said Alison Swan Parente, the school's founder, in a recent Guardian article.

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She set out to found a school that was deliberately not "posh;" instead, Parente wants to cater to a wide clientele that includes family farmers, people in search of a second career, and even those dreamers who've always wanted to try their hand at bee-keeping, cheesemaking, or other traditional culinary arts.

Oftentimes, artisan foods are limited to "luxury" classes in specialty cooking, or culinary school programs focused on career chefs. The School of Artisan Food is unique in its emphasis on teaching practical, traditional food skills as well as including specialty skills, small business techniques, and academic courses on the social and political context of food, such as the industrialization of the food system.

Currently, the School of Artisan Food offers five-day short courses in varied subjects, such as cider-making and wild yeast baking, but starting in September 2010, it will accept 30 students into a two-year program. The program will offer the United Kingdom's only advanced diploma in artisan food production, with specialties in baking, cheesemaking, butchery and charcuterie, and brewing.

With the rise in media attention given to artisan, organic and local food in the United States, it's likely that American culinary schools will soon follow suit and offer an increasing number of artisan food programs. If you've got an interest in artisan foods, check local cooking schools and colleges for courses on the subject.

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