Evolution in Culinary Education

If the purpose of education is not merely to teach, but also to imbibe learning, then what is the relevant question?

Several considerations such as incoming students' profile, trained teachers, quality assurance process, contribution to business, applied training, etc. are all worthy of more in-depth analysis. However, some of them discussed below are at the cutting edge of the transition to the evolving education scene.

Although, a lot of people talk about applied learning, it is not yet applied in operative terms. The explanation is clear. If applied learning has a background, instead of being part of the ethos of the teaching institute, it is bound to lip service this concept and thus fight to define and execute it.

The right approach is therefore to prioritize elements of applied learning over other conventional criteria. As an example and in the context of culinary education, we at Vedatya Institute, a hospitality institute, actually flipped the traditional space planning process when we were building our campus. Instead of prioritizing the requirement for traditional infrastructure, we chose to focus on areas of applied learning during the master planning process. The strategy has created on-campus facilities such as the "farm to fork" model, an autonomous herb garden, an indoor rainwater pond fish farm, several fruit trees and a dairy farm. Indeed, an understanding of these various components of the natural ecosystem and their impact on the supply chain is a critical gap that culinary leaders have identified around the world, including those we hosted at several cooking tables in Vedatya.

The key element of every culinary education should be sustainable practices. Efficient use of natural resources is even more needed and their preservation strategies.

Sustainability is an important element of Vedatya's applied learning. As a result, our farming is totally organic. In our farms, we use drip irrigation to save more than 90% water from the traditional irrigation techniques. By recycling organic waste, we produce own compost and instead use a steel structure for greenhouses built from bamboo sticks.

Lastly, one definition of applied learning is the industry internship. Now is the time to ask whether this practice is sufficient once it is in the academic capacity of the student. Should not applied learning take place on an ongoing basis in contrast to an internship, as part of the academic curriculum?

This continuous learning pedagogy is very much a possibility through initiatives such as the student operated food truck at Vedatya’s campus where the students can also enhance their revenue management skills by analysing data from the point of sale system. We also need to perform a gastronomic activity in their course to make a gross operating profit of 40 per cent and thus, improve entrepreneurial skills during their studies. Eventually, all of our on-campus activities, including a conference of over 300 participants, are conducted by our students. Therefore, continuous learning is not only the need of the hour but can in fact be implemented in any progressive culinary curriculum.

So what’s next in the frontier of culinary education? Applied research is certainly one field to continue to explore. And I don’t mean solely referencing work by other authors or even performing secondary research. The focus should shift to primary research in the form of on-campus aquaponics or vertical farming that is supported by grants from the industry or the government.

I'm sure many professionals have many other trustworthy concepts in cooking. What is important is to start implementing them because when we practice what we teach, we as educationists become life-long students.

About Author

Amit is an educator who is fortunate enough to be able to practice his passion for life-long learning through an institute called Vedatya.

Note: This article has been published on the basis  communication by the college