Career Choices

[penguin]

Don't get me wrong, I like my job, I like my chosen field and I could live with having it as a career. Once I got used to the finer points of asking people for large sums of money.

But...

I've always wanted to go to culinary school. I would have gone straight out of high school, but my mom required me to get a 4 year university degree. So I did (useless $80 grand piece of paper ). A political science degree is only slightly more useful than a degree in underwater basketweaving. Less than a year after graduating, BLAM-O! Celiac!

I've always wanted to do this for a reason. I'm a good cook. A really good cook, actually. It's my one true talent, and I'm very proud of it. I would love to have a little shop and write cookbooks. My dream job.

I wanted to go for a pastry program, but that's obviously ridiculously not doable. Would it be even plausible to go for a culinary arts program? I guess if I'm learning from Le Cordon Bleu, some floury french foods would be required.

Should I just do it Paula Deen style and lock myself in my house for 10 years to perfect my cooking? Thoughts? Anyone ever been in a culinary program?

[CarlaB]

I would realistically talk to the schools to see if you could do it. I certainly wouldn't want to be cooking with flour hanging in the air! You could treat it like toxic waste and wear a gas mask! I hope you do, then next time I'm in Austin, I'll visit your gluten-free restaurant! Certainly there is a niche for that!!

[tarnalberry]

Given the number of people with food allergies, I'm sure this is something culinary schools have dealt with. Before giving up your dream, get all the information! Call up a couple schools that you'd want to apply to, and ask them how they deal with things like a wheat allergy, and if there's a way that you can still do this. *Then* make a decision. :-)

[ravenwoodglass]

Don't get me wrong, I like my job, I like my chosen field and I could live with having it as a career. Once I got used to the finer points of asking people for large sums of money.

But...

I've always wanted to go to culinary school. I would have gone straight out of high school, but my mom required me to get a 4 year university degree. So I did (useless $80 grand piece of paper ). A political science degree is only slightly more useful than a degree in underwater basketweaving. Less than a year after graduating, BLAM-O! Celiac!

I've always wanted to do this for a reason. I'm a good cook. A really good cook, actually. It's my one true talent, and I'm very proud of it. I would love to have a little shop and write cookbooks. My dream job.

I wanted to go for a pastry program, but that's obviously ridiculously not doable. Would it be even plausible to go for a culinary arts program? I guess if I'm learning from Le Cordon Bleu, some floury french foods would be required.

Should I just do it Paula Deen style and lock myself in my house for 10 years to perfect my cooking? Thoughts? Anyone ever been in a culinary program?

I was a professional chef for years until they said it was my high stress job that made me sick. Yea, right. Anyway IMHO a culinary school or professional cooking with gluten would be impossible for us to do safely. To be a chef requires actually sampling what you are cooking multiple times in the process. It is however not that hard if you have a good mind for math to perfect your cooking skills at home along with gluten-free recipes if you plan on opening your own gluten-free restaurant. Just make sure you get business training in addition.

[jenvan]

What about going to the culinary summit next month in CO?? Or atleast seeing if you can contact some of the people involved and talk to them about this...

[DingoGirl]

I'd go the Paula Deen route, just sequester yourself, and figure ALL of it out WITHOUT gluten! It is true, in regular Cordon Bleu or whatever, you'd be contaminating yourself, and you DO have to taste everything, test everything, and you'd be around flour all the time.

Jen's idea of goign to CO is great.....talk to some people there, see what is possible... or invent your OWN possibility!

[rinne]

If you were willing to relocate you might find a job in a gluten free restaurant or bakery.

I'd say the regular route is out but that might be to your advantage. Didn't someone just post an article about gluten free foods growing into a 1.7 billion dollar industry by 2010?

I would like to open a little gluten free cafe that would open at noon, have maybe three tables, mostly do take out and close about three when the food was gone. I'd only make a few things each day but everything would be organic and delicious, of course. Funny, writing this down makes me realize how much I really would love to do something like this. I ran a small organic juice bar/deli a few years ago and I loved the regulars, feeding people who appreciated being nourished was wonderful.

[2Boys4Me]

Who's Paula Dean?

BTW I am a mediocre cook/baker at best, but since Ty's been gluten-free my husband has complimented my cooking quite a bit. He has 3 new favourite recipes since I've been hunting for gluten-free stuff.

[eKatherine]

I have a culinary arts degree. I think it would be very helpful to you, but you would definitely need to talk to the school about accomodations. Perhaps you could take more of some other classes if you were willing to forego the baking segment, or (if you insisted) you might be allowed to wear a mask and gloves (and maybe disposable clothes) and not be required to taste anything containing gluten.

Especially if you are going to be developing gluten-free recipes, that background would be very useful.

[glen4cindy]

Who's Paula Dean?

Paula Deen is a wonderful cook on The Food Network. Check out Paula's Home Cookin. She's in Savannah Georgia and cooks and sounds like it too!

As far as going to school, don't know how that would work, but, I would really like to see some mainstream cooking program(s) aimed at Celiac's. Learning how to adapt recipes to ge gluten-free would be a great thing to lots of us out here.

Good Luck!

[Green12]

Who's Paula Dean?

Paula Deen is only the most sweetest, hilarious person I have ever seen. I LOVE her

Have you checked to see if there is such thing as a gluten-free culinary school?

[rinne]

Have you seen this:

It’s no secret that the gluten-free lifestyle is one of the fastest growing food movements in the United States! And whether you are new to the gluten-free lifestyle or have been living deliciously gluten-free for years, The Gluten-Free Culinary Summit is a one-of-a-kind culinary experience that takes the art of gluten-free living to the upper echelon of creativity, skill and tasting enjoyment.

Along side top chef-instructors, acclaimed guest chefs, and leading industry experts, you will enhance your knowledge, sharpen your skills, stimulate your creativity and most of all…delight your palate with gluten-free fare! Scrumptiously lose yourself in a power-packed weekend of baking/cooking classes and demonstrations, interactive panel discussions, special dining events, a showcase of fantastic gluten-free products, and much more. The Gluten-Free Culinary Summit will also present a special conference for restaurant and hospitality professionals.

Open Original Shared Link

[penguin]

Paula Deen is only the most sweetest, hilarious person I have ever seen. I LOVE her

Have you checked to see if there is such thing as a gluten-free culinary school?

Paula Deen is my hero Did you see her France special? Precious!!!

I have checked and I haven't seen anything

I'm in a hippie town, maybe I can work something out with them. If nothing else, maybe I could just take a seminar for a certificate instead of a full blown diploma...

[Green12]

Paula Deen is my hero Did you see her France special? Precious!!!

No, I totally missed it over the weekend!! I am so bummed. I am hoping they air it again, they usually do...I'll just have to be on top of when

If you can't get into anything in your area, gluten-free bakery or whatever, I would just go for it on your own! Develop your own recipes on your free time and see where it takes you. I think most will agree that the hardest thing to find in the gluten-free world are good baked goods for starters. I think there is a huge demand and agree, it will only become bigger.

Some of the companies that exist now started out as just one person cooking/baking things for themselves or a celiac relative (i.e. Enjoy Life Foods for one....)

[penguin]

I think there's a market for ice cream cakes that I can get into. I never really liked cake cake so I made myself ice cream cakes

[penguin]

Well, I got a reply from the smaller (and I imagine more able to accomodate) school in town ....

Chelsea,

Since we are a traditional culinary school, it would be very hard for us to teach you here. Whether in culinary or pastries, we teach with and use lots of wheat flour and products with wheat in them. I am familiar with your diagnosis and feel you might be better investigating other alternatives. There is a vegan school here. I'm not quite sure of the name of it. I can find out for you, please give me some time.

Thanks

I researched the vegan school. It's a macrobiotic kind of school that's a bit too out there for me. And it's not accredited. It wouldn't teach me anything about traditional/classical cooking, which is what I want. Bummer.

No, Virginia, celiacs can't go to culinary school.

[glen4cindy]

But, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!

(especially if you have a 16 month old like me!)

[ehrin]

I started my college career in culinary school. Like you cooking comes naturally to me and I also am quite good at it. I wasn't dxed till after school, but I was a vegetarian at the time. I actually quit because it was too hard cooking the dishes and not being able to taste them to critique. Not only that but my chefs found it quite difficult to teach me so it was hard to establish good relationships. I'd think you'd run into this same problem at any culinary school - you just have to be able to taste your dishes.

[penguin]

OK, I'm almost over being depressed about it. If the small-shop culinary school couldn't accomodate me, I'm 99% sure Le Cordon Bleu wouldn't be able to help me either.

I can always become a nutritionist or registered dietician, and learn about food that way. Otherwise, my culinary training will go the way of Paula Deen, only without the benefit of nothing else to do. It's so frustrating. It's like really being able to throw a ball without being able to join the football team.

Grr. Two things you can't do as a celiac: Go to culinary school or join the military

[2Boys4Me]

Open Original Shared Link

There's a link to the summit mentioned earlier. Summer holidays in the mountains, perhaps?

[Nantzie]

Considering my non-gluten-free husband and I make the most beautiful sauces with Bob's Red Mill gluten-free now, and we can't tell a difference at all, I'm positive there will eventually be some sort of gluten-free cooking school.

Maybe you could start the first gluten-free cooking school, or gluten-free culinary arts weekend retreat. You could even just do an informal once a month get-together where some local celiac foodies brainstorm and cook. Send your recipes to Le Cordon Bleu.

Just remember, never discount the power of a hippie town. Or a Southern Belle, for that matter...

It's the trail-blazers who have to cut the trail out of the wilderness. There's nobody on the other side guiding them across. They just see the rugged peak that's their goal, grab their machetes, and cut their way to it.

I was always a "side of the box" cook. If there were reasonably accurate directions on the side of the box, I could cook succesfully. Hamburger Helper tasted awful, but it was still food. I loved, loved, LOVED good food, I just never took the time to learn how to make it.

It was only after I found out about celiac, and had to start REALLY cooking that I wished I had gone to cooking school.

I hope you figure out a way to blaze a trail that satisfies your OWN love of cooking and the gluten-free lifestyle.

Nancy

[VydorScope]

If the offical schools wont teach you, start buying text books, researching on line and teach your self. Why do you need the degree? You only realy need the knowledge right? Dont let anyone squah your dreams just becuase THEY are to stupid an inflexible to see it through.

[penguin]

Open Original Shared Link

There's a link to the summit mentioned earlier. Summer holidays in the mountains, perhaps?

I found out about this a few weeks ago and wish I would have known months ago! This close to it, it's pretty cost prohibitive to go to at this point. Hopefully they have one next year!

If the offical schools wont teach you, start buying text books, researching on line and teach your self. Why do you need the degree? You only realy need the knowledge right? Dont let anyone squah your dreams just becuase THEY are to stupid an inflexible to see it through.

I know, that's what I'm going to have to do. I just want the technical skill that hopefully I can get out of books and research. I guess it's mostly recipe writing that I'm looking for, so that I can correctly write recipes instead of modifying others. I haven't heard back from the bigger school, which should tell me something. I may try and see if I can work something out with either of them anyway, there are very few things you can't do with alternative flours. Would I really be that bad off not being able to make croissants and puff pastry?

[Sweetfudge]

I really think a gluten-free school would be awesome! I also have the ambition to become a master chef and have dreamed of culinary schools...but for now, the worldwideweb is my only textbook, and my husband is my only "customer."

QUOTE(VydorScope @ Jul 28 2006, 04:33 AM)

If the offical schools wont teach you, start buying text books, researching on line and teach your self. Why do you need the degree? You only realy need the knowledge right? Dont let anyone squah your dreams just becuase THEY are to stupid an inflexible to see it through.

I loved this quote! I also think the idea of a cooking club or monthly get-together is fabulous! In fact, I might just start one up myself here in Utah!

But I don't think you should give up on your dream! Dreams can come true, even if we have to substitute some rice flour here and a little xanthan gum there You can do it, and for all of our sakes here, I hope you do!

[VydorScope]

I know, that's what I'm going to have to do. I just want the technical skill that hopefully I can get out of books and research. I guess it's mostly recipe writing that I'm looking for, so that I can correctly write recipes instead of modifying others. I haven't heard back from the bigger school, which should tell me something. I may try and see if I can work something out with either of them anyway, there are very few things you can't do with alternative flours. Would I really be that bad off not being able to make croissants and puff pastry?

What ever they could have taught you in teh school you can learn from books, and networking with any chef's/cooks you can find. Its more leg work to do it this way, but can be much cheaper.