Intro: What's Going On In This Blog

Hello readers, my name is Jared Prager and I'm a freshman at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.

My intentions for this blog are to document every meal that I eat throughout my time as a student at The Culinary. I had originally started something similar on facebook in my notes section. I had a note per week and made a simple text list of everything I ate. I find that many people I know are curious as to what it's like to go to this school, and I'm fortunate enough to go here. Therefore, I figured I'd provide a window into the world of a culinary education's benefits. For we do have many benefits, including the (literally) required three-course meal served every day at lunch and dinner by the Banquet class. I'll explain that later. Also, in my next post I will provide information on the school and some background on what I'm actually talking about.

So, I'm in the Culinary Arts program for Bachelor of Arts, which is one of the two possible majors here, the other being Baking and Pastry Arts. This means I will be here for four years. My first six weeks will be basic food classes such as Product Knowledge, Intro to Gastronomy, Math and Writing. These classes give a foundation for the classes to come. When those weeks pass, I will be in such classes as Meat and Seafood Fabrication and Identification and Skills I, where I will be learning the basics still, except it will be in kitchens and hands-on.

The school gives students two swipes a day for meals which may be used in any production kitchen (student-run kitchen classrooms which pump out meals for students) they please. These kitchens are on the Floor level and the level below it, and there are two of the same kitchen for almost every one of them. Instead of a normal classroom being "Room 7", the kitchens are "K7", meaning Kitchen number 7. The production kitchens are as follows:

Quantity Production Kitchen (K16 / Upstairs) - Varied menu, not one ethnicity, easy access, longest open hours
Cuisines of the Americas (Up and Downstairs) - Featuring cuisines of the United States, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean
Cuisines of the Mediterranean (Up and Downstairs) - Featuring cuisines of Spain, Italy, France, Morocco, Tunisia, Greece and Egypt
Cuisines of Asia (Up and Downstairs) - Featuring cuisines of China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and India
Skill Development III (Up and Downstairs) - Students applying techniques learned from Skills I and II in a production setting to create basic three-course meals
Banquet Kitchen (Separate building) - Students in the Banquet kitchen produce proper three-course meals in a very sophisticated environment, served by Banquet Service class, diners will sit for roughly 90 minutes
Courtside Cafe (In Rec Center) - Available only to students with extended meal plans, students can order from the cafe which features a basic deli menu but also includes "create your own sandwich" and "signature sandwiches" including a Korean Pork Sandwich or a Tandoori Chicken Club



If you were to eat at Banquet, you would have to stay there. If you would eat anywhere else, they would give you your food promptly and you would adjourn to either the main dining hall or the dining hall on the bottom level.

Having Product Knowledge class requires you to eat once a day at Banquet, and failing to do so affects your class grade. It seems foolish to be sad about being required to eat a French three-course meal every day, but once you're here you understand that sometimes enough is enough.

That's one of the most intriguing things I've found out about this school. It seemed so obvious to me that the whole school would be based around food, and it seems obvious to anyone you could ask, but the reality is that you just do not understand until you experience it. Here's a little list of what I mean:



-Dining halls contain juices, teas, coffees, milks and breads that are available to all students at any time - virtually a buffet.
-At dinner time, baking and pastry classes wheel carts and carts of incredible desserts to the dining halls. I've brought back extras to my room of my favorites
-Instead of growing boring plants and flowers along the campus, you could stroll the grounds and find Rhubarb growing by the Rec Center, or Butternut Squash by Roth Hall, or Red Swiss Chard by Caterina d'Medici Restaurant.
- Street names include Sage Way and Thyme Terrace

-Upperclassmen Lodging Residence Buildings include Clove Lodge and Cinnamon Lodge
-The school store resembles a Le Gourmet Chef or a Chef Central
-With our package of school books we get chef uniforms and a professional knife kit

-Some Campus locations include Budweiser Field, Anheuser-Busch Theater, Conrad L. Hilton Library, and the Marriot Learning Center
-Residence Buildings include kitchens and dining areas


I think I've made my point.

Well at the moment I'm pretty tired, and I think I'm going to save the second half of explanations for tomorrow. Perhaps in front of the fireplace in the school library which happens to have the biggest collection of Culinary books, journals, articles, periodicals and videos in the country. Or maybe I'll just do it in my room. Either way it will be done, and it will include detailed maps and descriptions of the school's campus, as well as my daily routine.

Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more.