Categories: Education

Questions to Help You Choose a Culinary School in Ontario, Canada

There are a few questions you should ask yourself when choosing a culinary school in Ontario, Canada. Choosing a culinary school is an important decision and should be researched thoroughly. Knowing where to start your research and what questions you should ask is half the battle. Visiting the schools and meeting the professors and deans is the other half!

Begin your research for choosing a culinary school by comparing the course offered at the schools you are choosing. Each school will offer different classes. While some basic techniques are going to be taught at each school, some schools will offer special focuses that may interest you. These special interests course can help you decide what school is most suited to your interests and needs. If you are looking for a school that will offer classes in the art of Traditional French cooking, you will definitely need to see if they teach that course. Also check out the background and qualifications for the professor/ chef teaching the course. Did they study in France? These are things to consider.

Next, you should determine whether the school offers hands-on training, academic classes, or a mixture of both. It would be heart breaking to find out after you start classes that you will not have any hands on experience. Hands on experience seem like it should be a given in this field of education, but you should not assume anything.

Next, you should determine what the student/ teacher ratio is. This information can usually be found online, in the student guidebook, or merely by calling the admissions office. If you thrive under special attention you might prefer to go to a school that has a high teacher to student ratio. This could be especially important in the culinary field. Much of what you will be learning is technique. It could be especially difficult to learn if you are forced to watch a demonstration from twenty feet away or on a projection screen. Small class size can help ensure personal attention and a chance for each student to garner help from the professor as needed.

Finally, you should find out the average age of the student body. This may seem unimportant, but it is all too important. If you are a recent graduate looking for the college experience, which could be hard to find if you are attending a school where the average age is 35 years old. Those in their late teens are definitely in a different place than most 35 year olds. Alternately, it would be a little unnerving to be the only forty something in a class of twenty year old. You may be more focused at this later stage in your life. Accomplishing a dream later in life may not have patience or the energy to tolerate a lack of focus from peers.

Keeping all of these points in mind should help you in your path to choosing a culinary institute in Ontario. Here are a few local culinary schools to help get you started in your decision making process.

Liason College of Culinary Arts is located at 1780 King East, Kitchener, Ontario, N2G 2P1. They can be reached at (519) 743-8335.

Everton Academy of Culinary Arts is located at 5398 Wellington Road 49, Rockwood, Ontario, N0B 2K0. They can be reached at (519) 856-4003.

Liason College of Culinary Arts and Business Programs is located at 1047 Main Street East, Hamilton, Ontario, L8M 1N5. they can be reached at (905) 545-2433.