Without doubt, cooking is much more than preparing great food. Today, cooking is a true art form, a career that requires formal education to learn how to create dishes, make dishes, and design dishes for presentation. If you love working with food and are eager start a fulfilling and successful career in the food industry, it is imperative that you choose a reputable school or college that offers the most comprehensive culinary programs available. If your goal were to become a great chef, you would need to complete specialized programs in culinary management. After all, being a chef has to do with more than creating masterpiece dishes. For instance, chefs often order food, set, and maintain food budgets, oversee kitchen staff, provide training, design, and create menus, etc. For this reason, culinary programs are designed to give you the skills needed for each of the facets of being a chef.  After going through the required culinary programs, you would walk away with an earned certificate or degree, depending on the school attended and the type of career pursuing. Again, working as a head chef for a major restaurant, high-end hotel, or luxury resort would require a degree in culinary arts. This degree would be earned based on classroom education but also hands-on training so upon graduation, you could go directly to work. Some of the career opportunities that a certificate or degree in culinary arts would provide include the following. Baking/Pastry Chef The dessert at the end of a fabulous meal is usually the part of the dining experience most people anticipate. As a trained baking/pastry chef, you would have the ability to create amazing pastry desserts for guests to enjoy. Since this is a specialized career path, choosing the right school would be imperative. Catering Chef Another possibility is learning to be a catering chef. Many schools offer special culinary programs that focus on this career, which includes training for serving hundreds of guests opposed to a table of five. Obviously, catering presents unique challenges that a standard head chef might not face so completing proper education would teach you how to eliminate problems but also prepare you to handle obstacles when they arise. Restaurant Managers One need within the food industry that continues to grow is for quality restaurant managers. Years ago, managers simply oversaw restaurant operations, meaning they had no real knowledge of being a chef. However, to become an effective restaurant manager for a high-end establishment, you would need a two-year associate's degree. Some of the areas of education covered include budgeting, kitchen and wait staff supervision, order taking, and chef work. Although your dishes might not be to the same caliber as the actual chef, as a restaurant manager, you would need to know how to make each menu item should the chef not show up for work. After all, you could not leave your guests waiting to experience a positive dining experience. Sommeliers Culinary programs also include education to become a Sommelier, which is someone trained and highly knowledgeable in wine and spirits. This specialized training includes service, procurement, storage, wine rotation, and wine characteristics. Programs to become a Sommelier take from nine months to two years, depending on the level of education and the educational institution.

Dean Novosat writes for http://ift.tt/1baIdIe, a site about going to Cooking School and Culinary Programs.