Students are Not Prepared...

This blog is unrelated to my trip in Italy. This weekend yeilded further growth and understanding of food through tours at a Parma Prosciuto plant, having witnessed the Parmigiano Cheese process and touring a cantina which produces Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale. One step further in my journey, but this post is about something equally significant. I am proud to admit that I am unprepared, even with all that I have learned in the past 4 years as a student and as an aspiring chef, so this is a disclaimer, and me pleading my case to anyone who will listen:

Students are not Prepared to be Chefs upon Graduating from Culinary School.

This is an e-mail I received from a Johnson & Wales Chef/Advisor today:
C4 STUDENTS-----THIS OPPORTUNITY IS NOT FOR EVERYONE, BUT IT IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY…………………..

General Information :
_______________
Hôtel, Restaurant et Boutique de vins

Who we are: The _____________ is an independently owned, small, charming and authentic hotel and restaurant located in the center-west of France in the Poitou-Charentes region. It is owned by a French wine consultant and an American hotel-restaurant manager/translator. Our location 3.5 hours south of Paris in a rural setting, in one of France’s ‘Plus Beaux Villages’ known for its medieval architecture and stone buildings as well as its Magdalenian era rock sculptures (Roc aux Sorciers). From a tourist’s perspective, the region is most appreciated for nature, bird watching, biking, hiking, fishing and roman art and architecture, and its variety of specialty zoos.

With 11 guest rooms, a restaurant that seats up to 50, and two outdoor terraces seating up to 70, we are physically able to welcome far more clients than we actually do. That said, we serve as a first priority our hotel guests though we are open to outside clients and have quite a few regulars during the season. We average around 25 to 30 covers per dinner service during our busy season, the focus being on quality before quantity. If we do not have the staffing to correctly service our clients, we do not over-commit. With 7 of our guest rooms overlooking our central court yard where dinner is served weather permitting, we accept reservations from 7-7:30 pm until 9 or 9:30 pm at the latest, to insure our hotel guests find the peace and quiet for which they come here.

One of the most important features of our establishment and one of the features which make us unique is wine. We have a small, but extensive wine list (110 or so references) and guests that come here for the wine list, not necessarily for the food. We are also a wine boutique selling wine to go.

We serve dinner every day and are occasionally open for lunch, either for groups (~15 to 40 guests) or on public holidays when we have sufficient demand to justify opening. For groups, a single menu is proposed.

For more detailed information on our location visit __________________

Our philosophy: Fresh, organic when possible, and ‘du terroir’ which means using a maximum of locally produced products. The region is known for duck/goose and its foie gras, lamb, and goat’s milk cheese, etc. We bake our own bread. We do not use frozen or already prepared products (with the exception of baked goods for breakfast). Our cuisine is traditional French with flair and our clients typically do not appreciate ‘science’ on their plate. Our menu, most recently consisting of 3 or 4 of each course-starter, main course, and dessert, changes frequently as we often have guests staying for 5 nights or more. And, daily suggestions are always possible.

The Chef de cuisine: This is the perfect role to put into play everything you should have learned during your studies-and more. From the technical cooking side of the game to the practical and essential business aspects, you will use your education in a working restaurant (with supervision, of course), working primarily alone. You should be independent, creative, organized, adaptive, and most certainly open-minded; ready to work with new products and products not found commonly in the US (raw milk cheese) and ready for a challenge.

The French language is not a must, though making efforts to learn ‘working French’ is a vital part of any international experience. If you do not speak French, there will be some limits to the role such as communications with suppliers and placing orders, other than that you will be responsible for managing stocks, preparation, execution of the service, costing, and cleanliness-meeting at minimum French norms. And, of course managing your time is imperative. Of course this list is not exhaustive. A typical day will start around 4 pm depending upon the amount of prep work to do and finish at the latest around midnight. Obviously there are exceptions.

The Kitchen: Our kitchen is extremely spacious. As for the equipment, we have a walk in cooler, two table refrigerators, a chest freezer, a combi oven (electric), a 2 burner range and a spacious piano (all gas), microwave, vacuum seal machine, and other small equipment.

The Menu: For a few examples of menu items that we have proposed:
Starters: Roasted red pepper, basil and goats milk cheese ravioli with pesto
Foie Gras
Foie gras flan
Agnolotti, tomato sauce and tapenade
Main Course: Risotto with escargots and a parsley cream
Rack of Lamb seasoned with cumin and white beans
Brazilian rubbed salmon
Roasted duck breast with lentils (local specialities)
Desserts: Chocolate molten cake with custard
Peach, chocolate and lavender
Stuffed red wine poached pear
Candied Figs


So, as I begin reading this, I’m excited that Johnson & Wales is opening up more doors for international educational and work programs to its students. As much as I’ve grown in the past 2 months, I encourage all of my colleagues and classmates to take advantage of opportunities to travel with the excuse of learning their trades, and the stimulus of a rural French resort certainly piqued my interest. Unfortunately, this passage quickly turned my emotion from enamor to despair. Instead of the position offered being one for a commis or apprentice, it is, in fact a CHEF’s title and role. Increasingly concerning, the prerequisite experience for this role does not include knowledge of traditional French cuisine, nor the ability to speak and communicate in the native tongue of the land, and furthermore, this institution, whose name I have removed for their own privacy, suggests that the education received from Johnson & Wales is sufficient to operate a fine dining kitchen, nearly SINGLE HANDEDLY. To my Chef Instructors who may be reading this diatribe; you have each provided me with invaluable knowledge and information through the education afforded me from the University, I cannot thank any of you enough for your personal input into my career and future endeavors, but I, nor any of my classmates, are prepared to be Executive Chefs. The select few who have the insight, the desire, and the practice to succeed in this role are not the students I believe will respond to this offer, because they, like me, appreciate that our education gave us one decisive skill above all else; the ability to learn. Therefore, we are still learning, under the guidance of chefs, co-workers and other passionate souls in our trade. I feel as though we are the ones who are effectively putting to use our Four-Year degrees, because we have accepted that as much as we have learned, it only constitutes the foundation for us to perpetuate our education through experience in the working-world.

It is not my intention to admonish those who are intrigued by this offer, because it would undoubtedly be a phenomenal experience. Instead, I write this with a heavy heart, knowing that only one year ago I would have likely believed I was capable of fulfilling this position. Many of us, my contemporaries, have yet to feel the embarrassment or humiliation of learning the value of our program of study, to feel the humility of being blatantly wrong simply because we are unprepared and under-qualified. This is not a flaw in the methodology of Johnson & Wales, but in the students, who learn pride in their abilities as they progress and can observe the rapid growth through the short years spent in Providence or Miami, but often are not able to relate their growth to that of professional chefs who have spent years, or decades defining themselves, refining their technique and further expanding upon their internal knowledge of food, service and experience.

As a representative of JWU in Europe, working now and in the past with students from other American culinary institutions, I implore the faculty of my esteemed institution to redefine the intent of this position, because as the Johnson & Wales name grows, and as graduates spread throughout the world, they are a representation of me, and my peers who are struggling and perspiring in the hot, busy, relentless kitchens as entry level cooks, commis, apprentices and the like. I would want to put our best foot forward, and instead of searching out current students, perhaps put the word out to some of our Alumni who are a few years ahead of us, the current students and recent graduates. This group is far more prepared, and will be representative of the driven, well rounded and passionate atmosphere that is fostered in our kitchen classrooms. Their experience will likely provide them with a higher probability for success, and in return, will aid in boosting the value of my own and my fellow graduates’ degrees, which not only insures further successes, but will provide us an advantage especially in this time of economic crisis.

I am writing this as an apprentice, an aspiring chef, with culinary experience at “Providence’s Best Restaurant” for the year in which I was employed, seven months at the only Relais & Chateaux property in Rhode Island, a current apprentice for an Italian chef who has hosted 5 events at the James Beard House, and with a pending application (which I intend on succeeding in earning a position) at a resort on the Amalfi Coast of southwestern Italy which boasts a rating of a Michelin star and Relais & Chateaux designation since 1988. My journey has only just begun, and I intend on carrying the institution of Johnson & Wales with me throughout my time as a commis and a chef, but even with the growth and knowledge I’ve earned in my studies beyond the classroom, there is still far more remaining for me to learn before I can effectively actualize that role.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I’m a proud member of the Johnson & Wales University family. I have, and will always put my heart and soul into my work in order to achieve my personal goals and serve to polish the University's notoriety for the sake of myself and those who will certainly follow after me in their own pursuit to study and discover the world’s food and culture.

Go Slow, Stay Local
Va Piano, Rimane Locale