Every profession in the world has a comfort zone, where it rather flourishes relative to other places in the world.
Beholding the wonderful scenes of Florida, its beautiful sunshine, unending beaches especially the iconic Miami Beach, satisfying resorts, and all kinds of eyewatering views for tourism, you would understand why culinary arts can call Florida it’s home.
Attending any of the culinary schools in Florida can be quite a treat, as Peninsular Florida appears to be a home of seafood-based cuisine.
Just when you thought that’s all Florida has to offer you will be thrilled at how diverse the cooking culture is in Florida, with Miami having the distinctly Latin/Cuban flavor, Northern Florida overwhelms you with their southern culinary roots of the state.
Florida as a state is one of the states that are richly blessed with abundant of culinary natural resources, which eventually serves as the raw materials used in preparing most of their unique dishes.
As a culinary scholar in Florida, the materials used in preparing most of the unique dishes of the sunshine state (‘another name for Florida’) like key lime pie and seafood chowder are readily available and affordable.
Let’s walk together through what you stand to gain, where to study culinary arts, things to consider when choosing a culinary school, and finally how to adapt to the ever changing culinary trade environment after you have decided to pick up your degree in culinary arts in the sunshine state.
Culinary Schools In Florida
What do you Stand to Gain?
Florida unlike some other states where we find culinary arts have various professional organizations, which has lots of pros in the world of culinary.
These organizations are poised to help you become the best you can be by offering you opportunities to learn from the best.
Where to obtain a degree in Culinary Arts in Florida:
Florida being one of the power-house of culinary arts has various institutes and colleges where you can harness skills in culinary arts, some of these culinary schools in Florida include;
- International Culinary Schools at the Art Institutes of Fort Lauderdale
- International Culinary Schools at the Art Institutes of Jacksonville
- International Culinary Schools at the Art Institutes of Tampa
- Orlando Culinary Academy
- Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts
- Florida Culinary Institute
Colleges that offer degrees in culinary arts include;
- Atlantic Vocational Technical Center – Coconut Creek
- Bethune Cookman College – Daytona Beach
- Brevard Community College – Cocoa Campus
- Brewster Technical Center – Tampa
- Broward Community College – Ft Lauderdale
- Central Florida Community College – Ocala
- Charlotte Vocational Technical Center – Port Charlotte
- Chipola Junior College – Marianna
- City College – South Miami
- Daytona Beach Community College – Daytona Beach
- Edison Community College – Ft Myers
- Erwin Technical Center – Tampa
- First Coast Technical Institute – St Augustine
- Florida Community College – Jacksonville
- Florida International University – Miami
- Florida Memorial College – Miami
- Florida National College – Hialeah
- florida-chef-schools
- Florida Southern College – Lakeland
- Florida State University – Tallahassee
- George Stone Area Vocational Technical Center – Pensacola
- Gulf Coast Community College – Panama City
- Hillsborough Community College – Tampa
- Indian River Community College – Ft Pierce
- Keiser College – Ft Lauderdale
- Lake-Sumter Community College – Leesburg
- Lake Technical Center – Eustis
- Lee County High Tech Center – Cape Coral
- Lincoln Tech – West Palm Beach
- Lindsey Hopkins Technical Education Center – Miami
- Locklin Technical Center – Milton
- Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology – Naples
- Lynn University – Boca Raton
- Manatee Technical Institute – Bradenton
- McFatter Technical Center – Davie
Culinary schools in Florida
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- Miami-Dade Community College – Miami
- Miami Lakes Educational Center – Miami Lakes
- Mid-Florida Tech – Orlando
- North Technical Education Center – Riviera Beach
- Northwood University-West Palm Beach
- Nova Southeastern University – Ft Lauderdale
- Okaloosa Applied Technology Center – Ft Walton Beach
- Okaloosa-Walton Community College – Niceville
- Orlando College – Melbourne
- Palm Beach Community College – Lake Worth
- Pensacola Junior College – Pensacola
- Pinellas Technical Education Center – Clearwater, St. Petersburg
- Ridge Technical Center – Winter Haven
- Robert Morgan Vocational Technical Institute – Miami
- Saint Petersburg Junior College – Pinellas Park
- Saint Thomas University – Miami
- Sarasota County Technical Institute – Sarasota
- Schiller International University – Dunedin
- Sheridan Vocational Center – Hollywood
- Southeastern Academy – Kissimmee
- South Florida Community College – Avon Park
- South Technical Education Center – Boynton Beach
- Southwest Florida College of Business – Ft Myers
- Suwannee-Hamilton Technical Center – Live Oak
- Technical Education Center – Kissimmee
- Washington-Holmes Technical Center – Chipley
- Webber College – Babson Park
- Webster College – Holiday, Ocala
- Webster Tech – Tampa
- Valencia Community College – Orlando
- University of Central Florida – Orlando
Factors to consider in the CULINARY SCHOOLS IN FLORIDA:
It is not enough to want to study culinary arts and to know schools that offer degrees in the arts.
There are some factors you have to consider to ensure that the culinary school offers you the best possible chance of being successful in the art of culinary. Some of these include;
Externship Opportunities:
The externship opportunities that a school has to offer play a major role in the development capacity of that student. Ensure that the school offers extensive Internship or externship opportunities, as part of your culinary arts curriculum.
Referral:
Find out if the culinary school has a culture of referring students that are products of their school. Referrals show that the school values her student and can vouch for him/her within the standard of the school.
On the other hand, referral helps to make the move from the learning environment to the trade environment quite seamless.
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Facilities:
As with every school, irrespective of the degree you wish to attain, state-of-the-arts facilities are very essential to ensure that you are abrest with every form of technology, equipment, and tools involved in the culinary world of Florida.
Restaurant and Catering venture:
A practical application of how the business is run outside the culinary schools in Florida helps teach the student how to handle people in the outside world.
To give students the feel of how the culinary market is outside school, it is important for the culinary school to have a restaurant and catering venture.
It should be managed and run by students under the supervision of their tutors, preferably open to public endeavors that provide hands-on experience managing high-volume enterprises.
Post-graduation programs:
Post-graduation programs should be considered when choosing a culinary school.
It is also necessary to ensure that the school has programs to aid their students when they are caught up in a difficult situation in the course of their work after leaving the culinary school.
School Reputation:
When choosing a culinary school, it is important to know the reputation or honor of that school in the labor market. It is also vital to know if the culinary school offers job opportunities to people who study in that culinary school.
Versatility:
In an ever-changing world, it is important to be versatile, hence, it becomes important to have schools that offer opportunities to study outside Ohio and be equipped with how to prepare other local foods.
Culinary Schools In Florida
How to adapt to the culinary trade Environment in Florida
As seen in our study into the way of life of the people of Florida, you can easily tell that culinary art thrives extremely well as it one of the mainstays in Florida economy.
The culinary arts employs over 1 million people of the population of the state, making it one of the biggest employers of labor in the state.
Also, it is not news that the best of chefs and culinary artisans are found in Florida, hence any chef who wishes to rise to the pyramid of affairs as it pertains to culinary arts has to make lots of effort.
Here are some tips you can try to ease your rise to the top of the culinary pyramid;
- Brace yourself for an uneasy path, as you are competing with the best of the best.
- Visit the most visited and highly-rated restaurant, observe what people in the locality eat most, taste the food, and find out what makes it special.
- Connect with good chefs and find out their names and what makes them special.
- Explore local and seasonal ingredients with an eye toward flavor nuances that are regionally distinct.
- Endeavor to attend wine and food festivals as it aids you to meet your future employers (chefs on display) or your prospective customers (people who attend the festivals).
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Some festivals you can attend in Florida include;
- Florida Winefest
- WineQuest
- Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show Venues.
- Florida Keys Seafood Festival
- South Beach Wine and Food Festival
Culinary Schools In Florida
Conclusion
Florida poses one of the best places where you can acquire skills in culinary arts, as it offers you the opportunity to meet, interact and learn from pros in the art.
Florida also allows you to express what you have acquired in the culinary school, making Florida one of the best places to study, cultivate and engage in culinary arts.
If you have a longing to acquire skills in culinary arts consider Florida as one of the best states to acquire a degree in culinary arts.
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