Is it better to attend culinary school or work in a restaurant first in TX for Food Jobs & Employment?

Have you had a conversation with your peers as to what comes first chicken or egg question? This question goes the same with culinary school or work at restaurant first. Let's take a look on both side of the coin.

SCHOOL FIRST

Culinary arts are the art of preparing and cooking foods. The word "culinary" is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking. Getting a Culinary Arts degree is not just about learning to cook. It's a combination of cooking classes and business classes related to the food industry. You won't learn how to cook for your family; instead you'll learn how to cook in restaurants and for larger groups of people. It's serious business; you'll have to take food safety courses, culinary math, as well as numerous purchasing classes, all of which can be pretty boring if all you want is to learn how to have dinner parties with rave reviews. Most of the people who have food jobs in EL Paso think that If you have experience before you go to school, it gives you an edge on learning so you can absorb things that you may be familiar with but not quite confident in. Start with school, get the tools you need and remember that the on-the-job training is really how you learn what the food industry in EL Paso, TX is all about. If you can combine both, like working during a school break, it’s even better. School is supposed to teach you the basics. The chef [will] teach you to connect what you learn. Nowadays it’s important to study first, and then go. Most of the Famous chefs in EL Paso would recommend culinary school first before getting a food job. It gets you prepared in the sense of seeing the reality of what you’re going into. It also helps you understand a lot of culinary terms that we use.

RESTAURANT FIRST

Some think it’s great to go into a TX restaurant first to make sure it’s actually something you want to do before accepting any food Jobs & employment. Culinary school’s a pretty big investment in time and money. If you work in a restaurant first you would be able to gauge if the you like it or not. If you don’t love it, you’ll never make it. You have to live it, eat it and breathe it. And when you go to school, you learn things, and you learn a lot, but you need to see whether you’re suited for it. And you can’t tell until you get out there and work in the field. Working at a restaurant gives you all the tools to learn before you get [out] there.

Whatever your decide, going to culinary school or work at the restaurant first is not a decision to make lightly. If you are passionate about food and want the extra push to help break your way in the food job industry in El Paso, TX that you've always wanted and don't mind paying for it, then Culinary Arts degree will be a good investment for you. On the other hand, if you're okay with starting at the bottom and working hard, you can achieve the same results in about the same amount of time without even going to a culinary school.