Talk about silver linings: Some of the factors that made cooking schools a regular among the ”outs” on culinary ”in-out” lists in recent years appear to be contributing to their comeback.
In the mid-`80s, cooking schools were closing faster than you can turn off the burner of a gas stove. Among the causes were women joining the work force, fascination with restaurant dining and the improved quality of prepared food sold in shops.
But fallout from the `80s lifestyle, including the baby boomlet, increased concern about healthy eating and widespread culinary illiteracy are inspiring Americans to learn or relearn food preparation skills.
(Through the bad times, some schools found a lucrative new market by training people for work as professional cooks. In the wake of the recession, demand for cooks has lessened in some areas, but Chicago`s professional training programs still are in demand.)
”Business has never been stronger,” says Peter Kump, the Food Guide columnist whose Manhattan school trains home and professional cooks.
”It was really slow about three years ago,” says Jean True of Glen Ellyn, a teacher and caterer. ”Now there is a great deal of interest in the classes and great response from people of all ages.”
”There`s been a 20 percent increase in attendance at our demonstrations in department and craft stores over the last year,” said a spokesman for Wilton Industries, a baking equipment firm. ”Nesting (people staying at home) has been a positive trend for us.”
”There`s a lot of talk here about cooking schools undergoing a renaissance,” says Irena Chalmers, president of the International Association of Cooking Professionals. Her group, founded in the mid-1970s, once counted 800 cooking-school owners and teachers as the core of its membership. Currently that segment numbers about 200 schools and touring teachers, but other elements, among them authors and food-promotion specialists, have helped the organization survive and even thrive.
”But it`s wholly different now than it was 10 years ago,” Chalmers says.
The schools and teachers who have survived have redefined their purpose, says Tommie Bloener, director of IACP member services.
”They`re speaking out, telling the public of the advantages in health and money saved in cooking at home,” Bloener says, ”and they`ve recognized that everyone`s not looking for the same thing.
”They`ve had to professionalize themselves to become more competitive, keep their fingers on the pulse of trends, develop home entertaining classes and recipes to suit today`s more casual ways. For those who have shown an ability to be flexible, it seems to be working.”
Pat Bruno is one Chicago teacher who has made a dramatic transition.
Ten years ago the late, lamented Cook`s Mart, the retail store/school Bruno owned, would schedule touring authors and teachers such as Jacques Pepin or Diana Kennedy for a week at a time. Popular local teachers, among them Sue Spitler and Monique Hooker, led six- or eight-class courses that offered immersion in cooking fundamentals or the cuisine of a nation such as France.
Now, in the era of limited time, more limited attention-spans and a thirst for specific information instead of broad education, Bruno has narrowed his focus to Italian food and his teaching staff to one, himself at his. Students can take a course, but they also can come in-no more than a dozen at a session-for a lesson in making pizza or risotto.
Sue Spitler, living and teaching in Michigan City, Ind., says she no longer sees ”a lot of interest in gourmet cooking.”
”They want to know the basics, but they don`t want an eight-session course,” she says.
”Baking`s big here. They ask for recipes for family meals, comfort food with nutritional updates.”
In the western suburbs, Madelaine Bullwinkle, starting her 15th year of classes in her Hinsdale home, says she too has introduced single-session workshops.
”Bread is coming back very strongly,” she says, ”and while a class on fresh game bombed, one on vegetables was a big success. I`ll do one on grains and beans this fall.”
She offers another reason why cooking schools have survived:
”My daytime students see it as therapy. As people with a common interest, they come together to learn, participate and talk about food.”
”To say people aren`t cooking anymore is definitely not true,” says Sue Ellen Flockencier, who is in charge of the cooking-demonstratio n program at the Williams-Sonoma store in Oak Brook.
”They watch people cook on TV and come in the next day to buy a cooking tool one of them used. They have fun talking about food when they come to group classes here.”
True says: ”They (students) are very interested in knowing what to do with ingredients such as goat cheese or chutney or food marinades. They want to make wonderful tasting food that`s both healthy and convenient.”
”I try to keep the classes a mix of current trends, basics and classics,” says Chan Patterson, who directs the cooking school at the widely admired Everyday Gourmet cookware store in Jackson, Miss. ”And we try to promote and preserve our regional cooking.
”We don`t do many daytime classes anymore. Most of our students work and can`t get here before 6:30. Lately we`ve seen a lot more men and younger couples who are interested in entertaining at home.
”The class on grilled fish is a real popular wedding gift, and most of the students who take it are men. Stir-fry is the most requested, then bread- making. We have a waiting list for our guest chefs too.”
Guest chefs appear to be much in demand at cooking schools everywhere.
”There`s instant trust when you mention the word chef,” True reports.
”Big names are a big investment, but a chef from the country club or the College of Du Page will draw people.”
Flockencier, of Williams-Sonoma, goes further:
”Our best-received classes feature actual chefs, top chefs in the suburbs. The chefs will go beyond step-by-step instructions, give tips, answer questions and stretch the imagination of the audience. They (the students)
enjoy the personal contact, and they will go to the chef`s restaurant for a meal.”
Also, she says, the price of a one-time demonstration at the store has been cut from $30 to $20, ”in search of a larger audience that might come more often.”
Elsewhere, finding qualified, certified cooking teachers ”has never been easier,” Kump says.
Not so in Geneva, where the popular Persimmon Tree cookware shop closed its cooking school last fall because of a shortage of instructors, director Jane Briner says.
”The classes were always full, and some people got angry. But we couldn`t put together a schedule without enough techers. We`ll do demos, though. We haven`t taken out the kitchen.”
A more widespread problem for other cooking-school directors is the challenge of keeping up with the trends so they can keep their newfound audiences. By now these may include children, singles, married couples, working men and women, and retired people-all wanting recipes, conversation, new friends, tasty treats, a new religion or a leg up on a career in restaurants, catering or teaching.
”Choosing which classes to offer beyond the basics is a big pond of quicksand,” one California teacher says, ”and you can`t stand still. Everybody`s clamoring for information, most of it basic. But they get bored very quickly.”
”It`s the trickiest part of the business,” Kump says.
”Lately you can sell any class that contains the word `Italian` in the title. Health and nutrition sell too but it`s very, very iffy. You never know when something will bottom out.”
