Courses for cooking and the culinary arts have taken off with a vengeance, finds Janet Stafford
The television schedules seem to bursting at the seams with celebrity chefs these days, and still it seems we can't get enough of Delia, Gary, Nigella, Jamie et al. There's a fascination with exotic dishes and ingredients from all sorts of far flung places, alongside the revival of traditional dishes and comfort stodge. Being interested in cooking and food is suddenly hip.
CERT is a Government established body, so-called because its purpose is to co-ordinate education, recruitment and training in the tourism industry.
"There have been enormous changes in tourism and hospitality in recent years, especially in the field of professional cookery. CERT carried out a major research study including benchmarking of best practice, to figure out what changes we needed to undertake in the curriculum of CERT validated courses," says Sandra Clegg, a CERT training adviser.
One of the developments to come out of this is the new national diploma in culinary arts. Clegg explains that this training programme is based on three main areas which will enable would-be chefs to have the skills to run a top class kitchen - these are culinary arts, science and business. The course takes the equivalent of three years full time but it is a modular programme which enables colleges to deliver the programme in the format which suits them and students best.
"This qualification will be useful to people already working in the industry, qualifying them as senior or executive chefs," she says. At this stage this particular course is available in Cork IT, Dublin IT, Galway-Mayo IT, Killybegs Tourism College and Tallaght IT.
The course in which school leavers take a strong interest is the national craft certificate in professional cookery. It's a two-year full-time course, with the option of a further study to the advanced national certificate or the national diploma.
"School-leavers see it as quite a trendy course to do: at the end of three years graduates are coming out as commis chefs and they can travel the world with those skills if they want, or find terrific opportunities in Ireland," adds Clegg. The course is one of the most widely available of CERT courses, and can be taken in Athlone IT, Dundalk IT, Limerick IT, Shannon College of Hotel Management, Sligo IT, Tralee IT and Waterford IT, as well as the colleges listed above where the national diploma in culinary arts is available.
"The two year cert in professional cookery is so popular here," says Nuala Gordon, course leader for the BA in h"ospitality Management at Waterford IT. "The course is very practically orientated and the first year is almost 100 per cent cookery, as it is food and beverage orientated. After that students have a block of work experience to do - it could be that they end up in an establishment with a strong hierarchical structure, where they may be curling butter and polishing glasses whilst learning about how that type of kitchen is run or they may be in a smaller establishment where work is more hands on. Whichever, they get good experience," she says.
Gordon laughs, telling that when some students come in they imagine themselves to be the next Gary Rhodes when they can't even hold a knife. "We set them to making soup which may not seem wonderfully glamorous but they're learning to chop things - then as they grow in skill and experience they end up in a position where employers are grabbing them out the door."
A reflection of the high standard of graduate from the culinary courses at Waterford IT is reflected in the success they've had in competitions in recent years. Ray Cullen is a lecturer in hospitality skills in the college. He recently accompanied six of his students to the Educator National Culinary Challenge award where they displayed their knowledge and expertise with regard to Mediterannean cuisine to take first place.
A couple of weeks earlier two of his students took part in the CERT Dine and Wine awards where they took second place to Fermanagh College, losing by less than 1 per cent. "The best thing about the students preparing for competitions is that they learn to work as part of a team. Something may very well go wrong, but it's not what goes wrong rather how you cope with it. It involves collaboration and thinking on your feet," he says.
Ray Cullen says he took on the challenge of helping students compete in different awards when he came to the college, but insists that he doesn't see competitions as the be all and end all: "It helps encourage those who win and compete as well as those who don't. It can be good for your career but I think the skills they learn on the course are much more important - such as knife skills or the fact that our students who compete are always highly commended for their kitchen hygiene," he says.
Future plans for Waterford IT may include adopting the four year BA degree programme in culinary arts. This option is currently only available at DIT. The four year course covers areas like gastronomic art and design, gastronomy, culinary arts systems technology, pastry and business and entrepreneurial studies. The college also offers a four year BSc degree programme in hospitality management, hotel and catering.
At Galway-Mayo IT students can consider the possiblity of spending some time abroad whilst doing their national certificate in professional cookery. The course content includes food preparation, vegetable cookery, preparation of sweets and pastries, kitchen organisation, menu planning, hygiene, food costing, general life skills, new technology and French. The option to travel to Germany, France or Belgium for work placement is available.
Tralee IT stresses aspects like customer orientation and quality, healthy options and culinary exploration and Mediterranean as aspects of their two year professional cookery certificate.
The college which won the national CERT Dine and Wine awards recently, narrowly pipping Waterford IT to the post, was Fermanagh college, sited in Enniskillen. It offers one and two year courses in catering for NVQ level one, two and three awards or GNVQ hospitality and catering advanced awards. With the option to go on to Higher National Diploma (HND) and Certificate (HNC) in hospitality management the college also offers a link year to the BA hons course in hospitality management which is based at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown campus.
• For more information on courses
[ www.cert.ieOpens in new window ]
[ www.wit.ieOpens in new window ]
[ www.dit.ieOpens in new window ]
[ www.gmit.ieOpens in new window ]
[ www.ittralee.ieOpens in new window ]
