Thinking about attending a vegan culinary school?

We have a special treat for you today, reader!

Several of our Vegan Hospitality Consultants have attended culinary school programs, either before or after they have taken our consultant training program and a few offered to share their experiences and advice with you. We interviewed them to find out what led them to culinary school, how it has enhanced their experience as a consultant, and what advice they have for anyone who is considering this path!?

Hi, I’m Karley Ray!

Location: Luxembourg

My first culinary experience was with one of the top U.S. culinary schools back in 2010. I had initially attended the school for their Event Management undergrad degree, but in my first few months of college I went plant-based and felt like I was experiencing an awakening and became extremely passionate about veganism and environmentalism. I was already going to one of the best universities for culinary arts, so I switched into the Foodservice Entrepreneurship degree. It was a 2 year culinary + 2 year business degree with the intention of training future food-related business owners. This was not a vegan program, but the school’s policy was that they would make certain exceptions for students who abstained from eating certain things. After my first day of classes, my chef told me I needed a note from the dean to excuse me from tasting non-vegan ingredients (I was willing to work with them for learning purposes despite conflicting with my ethics, but I didn’t want to ingest them). The dean told me the exception was only for students with allergies or religious exemptions, and not for someone like me who was plant-based by choice. She told me that my chefs had every right to flunk me for not tasting the food we were learning to make. This was super upsetting, and it felt like the school was very behind the times in not seeing the value in training a future plant-based chef. I dropped the ‘foodservice’ part of my program, and graduated with a bachelors in Entrepreneurship 2 years later.

Less than a year after graduating, I was feeling quite lost about what to do. I was so passionate about veganism and I learned to love cooking through going plant-based. I started working on an organic farm as a farming apprentice (much to my parents' dismay after freshly graduating with a business degree!) and I met a private chef who was volunteering on the farm. While we were weeding and harvesting, I would ask him so many questions about his career and how he got into it. He suggested I start as a line cook somewhere with a solid mentor and work my way up, but I am the type of person who likes structured learning so I made the decision to find a plant-based culinary school and apply.?

In 2015, I attended the 900hr Professional Plant-based Chef certification program from the Natural Epicurean Academy of Arts in Austin Texas. Unfortunately, the school doesn’t exist any more. But it was a full-time program that taught Vegan, Vegetarian, Raw, Ayurveda, and Macrobiotics. The Natural Epicurean placed a huge emphasis on following non-traditional culinary paths and this has been a big part in shaping my culinary career choices and how I’ve navigated the industry. They taught us to prioritize our health and wellbeing which is really hard to do in a traditional restaurant environment which can be filled with big egos, a lot of pressure, and reliance on vices such as alcohol and smoking. I’ve always been open to whatever opportunities there are to work in the food space - now including consulting!

Throughout my career I’ve also done other smaller programs with the Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy and Plantlab (both also unfortunately don’t exist anymore, although he is launching the Future Food Institute soon), Rouxbe, and a few others! I also recently attended Le Cordon Bleu in London for a short-form food styling and photography course.

I think that learning cooking techniques, flavor balancing, and food philosophy in school sets you apart from a homecook and having these skills can help you create really special and creative dishes. I think chefs will have a certain respect for you when they see that you can walk the walk of the industry while still being vegan and they will recognize these skills that you’ve cultivated. I also think being culinary trained teaches you how to “be taught” in the kitchen, which can be helpful when you step into the role of “teacher” as a consultant. Because my school taught several different modalities and throughout my career I’ve had so many different types of jobs, I feel super confident that I could support any kind of restaurant and any kind of cuisine.

Culinary school can be so much fun if you love food and learning. All day you’re learning, testing, being creative, absorbing wisdom. It can really be the difference between feeling super confident in the kitchen and being anxious or apprehensive. I am still friends with a lot of my chef instructors and classmates - it was also the first time in my life where I was in a room full of fellow vegans and able to make a bunch of vegan friends all at once!

That being said, culinary school is not necessary to break into the industry. Plenty of successful food folks didn’t get their start that way. There are so many resources online for learning. And just because you go to culinary school, it doesn’t guarantee you will be some amazing chef! It takes time, dedication, and a true love for cooking and feeding others.

One of my biggest pieces of advice to people embarking on a new career path in the food space is to put yourself out there intentionally! Learn to take good photos of your food, get some headshots taken, take some time to establish personal branding. Then put it all on a website! I started a portfolio-style website while I was still in culinary school. My chefs at school loved that I did that. The clients and jobs I reached out to loved that I had one as well. My food wasn’t super beautiful in the beginning, but overtime my food and website evolved with me and my skills. I think it’s a big reason why I was able to land a lot of cool jobs all around the world. It was so impactful for me that I now help other food folks have strategic brands and websites as well! I’ve definitely seen the value in it and how it can escalate your career, whether you are a chef, restaurant or consultant! It’s always a good idea to claim your domain on the internet and keep it as a space for you to share outside of social media.

Hi, I’m Ivana Rukavina!

Location: Croatia

For me, it all started after becoming vegan (approximately 8 years ago). Up until that moment I had already graduated and just got my MA diploma when I realized working in the kitchen would suit my persona more. There were only two vegan bistro's in Zagreb back then and I made a decision to make a big turn and actually do something which makes my wild spirit happy. At that time I was attending every possible plant based cooking workshop in Zagreb to acquire more knowledge, reading articles online and offline, being creative at least three times per day to put it all into practice... I also attended online courses via PlantLab culinary by Matthew Kenney which made me aware of different techniques, foundational skills and gave me a set of tools from which I could adapt based on my preferences or possibilities.?

At the time, the online system was very handy for me as I was only wanting to learn about plant based cuisine and my home country had almost nothing to offer. After a year of working in a vegan bistro that had a lot of catering meals to prepare and deliver, I felt I wanted to uplift my skills and I am open to leaving my country to get a better education. Before leaving I also did some courses in plant based nutrition which was a great addition to my general knowledge in nutrition. I heard about Blue Lotus Thailand through a friend of mine who was working there as a culinary instructor. Blue Lotus was a learning center (closed in Covid) located in Thailand offering a few different plant based weeklong courses and I decided to invest all of my savings and go for it! I spent two weeks in the most beautiful resort being creative and learning new stuff. It was led by a beautifully trained team of leads and assistants and each of us had their own station to repeat all of the recipes we were taught. So rather than being only a demo it was more a hands on approach which really helped to crystallize the skills. I was offered to attend their weekend workshops too and in my free time I would read plant based cookbooks from their library. During these intense two weeks I have got a lot of theoretical knowledge but also a set of new skills. I got the chance to practice plating and fine dining techniques and learned a lot about Thai food as well as making it in a vegan version.

My enthusiasm and their request for a new team member matched so I got invited to come back for a full year as an intern and culinary instructor. Within that year I grew the most. From observing other instructors, to writing my own curriculum notebook, testing and developing recipes, teaching and finding my style to living la vida in a Thai village. When I look back it seems like I compensated that year for a general culinary education that is to be found in my home country. There is a saying "one teaches, two learn" and I got really inspired to continue in that field after I returned back. Since coming back I was mostly working as a Chef, as a leader or follower within a vegetarian fine dining environment. As I always felt the calling to teach and pass my knowledge to others I was happy to find Vegan Hospitality Consultant training as I felt ready to help others with their wish to serve vegan meals, either within their already established restaurant or by opening something new. VH gave me a really neat structure to follow in order to offer my skills the best way possible.

As a vegan hospitality consultant and being vegan myself I am fully familiar with "all things vegan". What I find classically trained chefs don't know so well is our palate, our liking of different food combinations on the same plate, our awareness of the colours and the diversity within the plant kingdom. Simply as they don't live this lifestyle they are less aware of things we do care about. Being culinary trained within a short time frame offered me a time where I could go through a lot of different roles and learn by doing. It for sure pushed me to look beyond the recipe and go deep in the science and theory to understand why something works or it doesn't. You get to test and retest at the expense of someone else, whereas if you're doing it in your household I tend to do it less cautiously and being a bit stingy with the ingredients. Also by investing my time in studying plant based nutrition and having it in my consciousness I create recipes that sustain life. I believe that it is certainly not only about making it vegan, but rather making it sustainable for you too so you can be a true walking billboard of that lifestyle.

If you are looking to strengthen your vegan culinary skills, I would suggest to start gently and in your own tempo but consistent and committed to learning. That could be buying two vegan cookbooks and deciding to commit to trying out two recipes per day from one of them. That might just as well be the cheapest option as you need to eat every day so why not make it a chance to learn too? There are more and more online options for studying which makes it great for those who have their regular job and daily obligations as it really allows you to complete it at your own pace.

I think that restaurant and hotel owners in general would benefit from becoming more aware that there is a global need to eat healthier and more sustainably. And in order to do so, plant foods are an amazing opportunity to cover those areas. They are suitable for everyone no matter their diet, they are a better choice for the whole planet from whatever angle you look into them and they are delicious! So what reason is there not to try them out? If a classically trained Chef can be open enough to use their skills and knowledge and evolve using them within a plant based frame there would be no need for consultants, and we hope to one day work ourselves out of a job. I found out that teaching professionals how to cook plant based was more about giving them a theoretical framework around veganism and teaching them about alternatives rather than showing them technical cooking skills such as how to properly blanch or bake. Once they get the idea it all becomes a very smooth and fun playground. For all the business owners out there I would encourage them to make an investment of hiring a Vegan Hospitality Consultant to mentor their already well established crew and save loads of time, frustration and money.

Hi, I’m Erin Baright!

Location: U.S.A.

I attended the Vegan Hospitality Consultant Training Program in winter 2020, which inspired me to attend a new vegan culinary program the following year. I wanted to better support traditional hospitality professionals with implementing vegan cuisine and service into their business models, and to educate myself to really understand vegan cuisine was important to me.

I chose to attend the Vegan Fusion Culinary Academy in Boulder, Colorado, one of the first vegan culinary programs in the world. I was part of their first cohort of a four month Aspiring Chef Program.?The focus was on learning global vegan cuisine utilizing traditional French culinary techniques. In addition to chef training, we also had holistic nutrition and business insight classes with culinary professionals, ranging from vegan businesses executives, restaurant owners, and recipe developers.

Attending a vegan culinary program with an emphasis on traditional techniques that clients and chefs are trained in was a game changer. I better understand the perspectives and culinary language of the chefs I work with and can present new methods of creating traditional dishes that we all know and love. It seems like a lot of classically trained, traditional chefs think that some dishes and products can only be made using specific ingredients. It is absolutely possible to create satisfying, flavorful, and nutritious traditional dishes with plant based ingredients, some of which are new to the market and others which have been used for centuries. With the right tools, ingredients, and knowledge, plant based foods can shine as the main course. I learned how to execute traditional techniques that I wouldn’t have learned outside of culinary school, like how to flambé, sous vide, and cook tofu en papillote. Practicing knife cuts every day was a must.

Professional culinary training helped me better understand traditional menus and how they can be improved. It’s easy to point fingers at what’s wrong with a menu from a vegan perspective. Complementing what I learned about menu development in the Vegan Hospitality Consultants course, having the bonus of culinary training and tools to not only understand the perspective of classically trained chefs, but teach them how to improve their vegan service, is key. Meeting the kitchen staff where they’re at and providing a solid, comprehensive plan of action will improve the business’ longevity by leaps and bounds.

Since finishing the culinary program, I can confidently create a comprehensive plan of action with specific steps to streamline service, collaborate with chefs to develop mouth-watering vegan dishes, and bust misconceptions that vegan cuisine is dull and tasteless. Knowledge is power, and sharing that knowledge to create more sustainable, inclusive menus is incredibly fulfilling.

The culinary program I took in person is now closed, but one of the owners now offers a condensed virtual version of this program with live cooking on zoom. I highly recommend Mark Reinfeld’s vegan chef training. To apply, CLICK HERE . Mention that Vegan Hospitality sent you and receive $500 off of your tuition (we do not receive commission on this link, we just love to share partners we believe in!).

If you are a vegan professional offering culinary services with a traditional hospitality business, attending both the Vegan Hospitality Consultant Training Program along with a culinary program will definitely give you a leg up. Whether it’s discussing with a chef how a dish should be prepared or demonstrating how to work with plant based proteins, the culinary knowledge and confidence you gain will help traditional chefs see that vegan cuisine doesn’t have to be an afterthought or a burden. It’s an opportunity to utilize culinary skills for social change and rapidly changing consumer values. Gaining culinary fluency with a vegan lens will help you make impactful, long term changes in the hospitality and culinary world.