Academics - School of Culinary Arts -  B.A. Culinary Arts 

Beyond the culinary arts essentials, you will learn how to plan, build, promote, run, and sustain a flourishing food-related business.

• Overview
• Program Description
• Degree Requirements  

Overview

Kendall’s four-year Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts degree program takes an in-depth, comprehensive approach to your culinary education. Starting with the basics, you will steadily build and enhance your culinary knowledge base of cooking techniques, and ingredients with extensive, hands-on experience.

In your junior and senior years, you will immerse yourself in the cuisines and cultures of Latin and South America, the Mediterranean, and Asia with exciting courses taught by chefs who are natives of those regions. Every quarter, you will be in the kitchen for a portion of your studies so you can continue to expand and refine your culinary skills you developed in the first two years of the program.  Most junior and senior classes culminate with a formal presentation where you cover a culinary arts topic in-depth.

Beyond the culinary arts essentials, you will learn how to plan, build, promote, run, and sustain a flourishing food-related business. You will also benefit from a general education and math and computer core, that includes developing effective written and verbal communication skills. When you graduate, you will have the professional skills, attitude, and knowledge needed to succeed in today’s fast-paced culinary business world.

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Program Description

This quarter introduces you to the professional kitchen. The 10 week quarter is broken up into 4 mini-sections. You will be in each section 4 days a week, for 2 1⁄2 weeks in order to manage a multi-day project through to completion. The classes generally start with a lecture and a demonstration followed by 4 hours of hands-on experience in the kitchen. Classes involve hours of practice time designed to let you hone your skills to do everything from mastering specific knife cuts, such as julienne, to deboning a chicken and filleting a fish. You will learn the essentials of preparing well-crafted soups, stocks, and sauces. You will learn cooking methods such as frying, poaching, and braising and why particular methods of cooking are more appropriate for certain ingredients. You will also learn how to optimize the ingredients on hand and begin to think about the way you present the food that you create. You will learn how to identify and successfully purchase products and ensure their quality. Courses include:

• CUL111 Intro to Professional Cookery
• CUL112 Intro to Stocks, Sauces & Soups
• CUL117 Intro to Garde Manger
• CUL118 Methods of Cooking
• CUL119 Product ID
• CIS190 Principles of Computer Applications

Quarter Two (15 credits)

For half of this quarter, you will focus on speed, quality production, and teamwork in our café classroom, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Taking on different roles in the kitchen, you will be responsible for producing meals on time or cooking to order at action stations located around the café. You also will learn to efficiently cook for hundreds of guests. For the second half of this quarter, you will focus on individual speed and food quality and be introduced to the business side of cooking. You will learn how to manage a storeroom, including accepting goods and managing vendors. You will also learn about information systems that can assist you with ordering and tracking. During this quarter, our Career Services team will help you develop professionally; assisting you with resume building and mock interviews to prepare you for the internship you want. Courses include:

• CUL101 Survey of Food Service
• CUL113 Storeroom
• CUL122 Cost Control
• CUL124 Quantity Food Production
• CUL126 Professional Development
• MTH116 Intermediate Algebra

Quarter Three (13 credits)

In Quarter three students build on their café experience by through the Breakfast course. The rest of the coursework is dedicated to communication and science. Students continue their required study of Spanish, and begin practicing the forceful use of language in English Composition. This quarter includes the important study of Human Nutrition. Courses include:

• CULXX Breakfast
• CULXX Elective
• ENG111 Composition I
• SCI123 Human Nutrition
• SPN111 Spanish I

Quarter Four (14 credits)

Quarter four introduces students to Baking and Pastry techniques, everything from yeast-based breads to puff pastry, cakes and other sweets. You must also complete a unique, intensive Advanced Skills class that puts you to the test by reproducing the stresses of a professional culinary environment with increasing pressure and ever shorter time frames. We continue to build on the communications curriculum here with more advanced Spanish and English Composition classes. Courses include:

• CUL139 Advanced Skills
• CULXX Baking & Pastry
• ENG112 Composition II
• SOCXX Social Science

Quarter Five (12 credits)

During the fifth quarter, you will complete an internship, gaining first-hand experience in the industry and honing your skills for the advanced coursework in Quarters 6 and 7. As a student, you might find a placement at a restaurant, hotel, bakery, or food lab, to name a few options. Kendall’s Career Services team will assist you in obtaining a position that aligns with your career objectives, needs, and skills. You will also complete an online course to improve your writing skills.

• CUL200 Culinary Externship

Quarter Six (13 credits)

You will take classes designed to advance your knowledge of meat and fish cookery, sauce preparation, Garde Mange (cold food preparation), and presentation. You will also have the opportunity to showcase your talent for customers when you prepare elaborate meals in our fine dining restaurant. Working with a teammate, you will prepare specialized platters of cold food—terrines, pâtes, sausage, and the like—to be presented and served as part of the Grand Buffet - a festive, themed banquet. Courses include:

• CUL233 Food Service Management
• CUL252 Advanced Garde Manger
• CUL254 Advanced Sauce & Fish
• CUL256 Advanced Sauce & Meat

Quarter Seven (12 credits)

Quarter seven is show time. You will synthesize all that you have learned and put your skills to the test in a fine dining facility. Kendall’s own Zagat rated restaurant serves as the backdrop for this final culinary course in which you prepare meals to order from a full-service menu. Rotating in stations around a European-style kitchen, you will cook and plate everything from appetizers to daily specials to desserts for customers who have come to experience all that Kendall has to offer. Other courses during this quarter expand your knowledge by explaining what it takes to open your own restaurant, run a catering business, or work in a banquet facility. You will work in the front of the house of a fine dining restaurant, learning what it takes to provide good service and satisfy customers. Courses include:

• CUL140 Fine Dining Service
• CUL257 Fine Dining Lunch or Dinner
• CUL255 Catering
• CULXX Menus

Quarter Eight (12 credits)

As your third year of study begins, you are ready to learn a new cuisine and dive deeply into the intricacies of the Culinary Arts field. Cuisine of Asia introduces subtle, exotic flavors coupled with brand new culinary techniques. Advanced Pastry teaches you how to master delicate creations of dough and sugar. Political and Legal Issues of Food looks closely at the many ethical aspects of food and food production, such as environmental impact, enabling you to become an even more thoughtful, aware culinary professional. An introduction to Business Statistics equips you with some of the basic business concepts and tools you need to succeed in your field.

• CUL316 Cuisine of Asia
• CUL320 Advanced Pastry I
• CUL350 Political & Legal Issues of Food
• MTH140 Business Statistics I

Quarter 9 (16 credits)

Building on the previous quarter, Cuisine of Central / South America delves into the rich, bountiful array of cuisines, cooking styles, dishes, and unique ingredients that define the intriguing, multi-faceted cultures and regions of Central America and South America. Compelling new tastes and techniques challenge you to further examine your own ideas and explore what is possible in the Culinary Arts field. Food History offers a balancing perspective and context for all of your studies. Marketing Principles and Advanced Business Statistics help you build more advanced business skills and a more comprehensive knowledge base.

• CUL315 Cuisine of Central/South America
• HIS351 Food History
• HOS241 Marketing Principles
• MTH240 Business Statistics II

Quarter 10 (16 credits)

During this quarter, you have the opportunity to explore yet another exhilarating variety of ethnic flavors, techniques, and traditions. By fully immersing yourself in Cuisine of the Mediterranean, you become well-versed in the subtleties of this very vibrant, regionally diverse fare and culture. Beyond the kitchen, you have the chance to expand and refine your communication and business skills with an advanced Composition class as well as Principles of Human Resource Management and Accounting classes.

• CUL317 Cuisine of the Mediterranean
• ENG113 Composition III
• HOS322 HR Principles
• HOSXX Accounting TBD

YEAR FOURQuarter 11 (14 credits)

By now, you have developed your own specific interests that you are ready to explore in greater depth. A variety of exciting Culinary Electives become available to you here for the first time. You also get to take a walk on the scientific side with your first look at the captivating, rapidly changing field of Food Science, which teaches you about technical aspects of food production, preparation, and distribution. You round out the quarter with an informative Economics class and a Speech class, which hones your ability to communicate verbally and in real time in front of an audience.

• CULXX Culinary Elective
• ECOXX Economics
• SCI300 Food Science
• SPE111 Basic Speech

Quarter 12 (13 credits)

If you are 21 years old, this quarters provides a window into the fascinating world of Wines, Spirits, and Food Affinities. Covering more than just what’s in the bottles, this course helps you develop the skills needed to pair foods and drinks in order to bring out the flavors of both. You also continue to pursue your passion by taking another Culinary Elective. In addition, Labor Relations and Culinary Research and Development classes impart the knowledge you need to turn your passions into profits in the culinary business world.

• CUL345 Wines, Spirits, and Food Affinities
• CUL420 Foodservice R&D
• CULXX Culinary Elective
• BUS312 Labor Relations

Quarter 13 (14 credits)

To complete your Bachelor degree in Culinary Arts, you take another Advanced Pastry class and complete a Capstone Project, which becomes part of the professional portfolio you take with you after graduation. Now that you have immersed yourself in cuisines from around the world, you are ready for a Social Science course that helps frame the key questions you have about your place in the world. Finally, your business studies conclude with two important classes, Special Events / Operations Sales and Food Service Public Relations, which enhance your business acumen and prepare you to launch a successful Culinary Arts career.

• CUL310 Special Events/Operations Sales
• CUL325 Food Service Public Relations
• CUL321 Advanced Pastry II
• CUL450 Culinary Capstone
• SOC3XX Social Science

Notes:

• At any point during the program, you are encouraged to take culinary elective classes.
• The capstone project must be successfully completed in order to graduate.

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Degree Requirements

General education classes—60 credits (28 from the A.A.S. program and 32 as part of the junior and senior year program)

• Culinary Arts major credits—116 credits (56 from the A.A.S. program and 60 as part of the junior and senior year program)
• Internship—12 credits
• Successful completion of all practical and written comprehensive exams.

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