How a Class in Gourmet Cooking Can Boost Your Career and Enrich Your Life

A gourmet is someone who not only loves food and drink, they are a connoisseur. They value quality above quantity. Gourmet cooking is about cooking for the connoisseur. And a gourmet cooking class will teach you how to do it.

Cooking gourmet food is about more than filling a yawning belly. It is about more than satisfying hunger. It is the cooking equivalent of art. If Ronald McDonald were a house painter, gourmet cooking would be Vincent Van Gogh. And a gourmet cooking class would be the Royal Academy of Fine Art.

Thinking seriously about enrolling in a gourmet cooking class? Then you need one key ingredient: a passion for good food. The life of a professional chef can be hard. The hours are long. You might have to rise early to catch the first deliveries of meat, fish and vegetable to the local market. Yet, you'll be working late. Most restaurants are open late into the evening. They will be busy at weekends: so will you. And a kitchen can be a noisy, stressful working environment. You're working to deadline after deadline. You'll be reliant on how effective your kitchen management is, and how skilled and experienced your co-workers are.

But the rewards can be high - as long as you have a passion for good food.

Top five tips for finding a the right gourmet cooking class

Once you've decided that you want to go to a gourmet cooking school, you have to find the one that's right for you. Here are some tips to help you make that all important decision:

1. Look at each gourmet cooking class in detail. There are many world cuisines. Some are more demanding than others. Some are more popular. Make sure the cooking school you're looking at covers your own personal culinary bent.

2. Find out everything you can about the teachers at the school. Do they have local culinary reputations? Do they have their own restaurants? Do they specialise in certain cuisines and spurn others? And, most importantly of all, do they strive for the kind of excellence that a gourmet would demand - use of only fresh food presented with skill and attention to detail.

3. Do the school's gourmet cooking classes teach only established cooking traditions, or do they embrace fusions and experimentation? And hos does that fit in with your own particular culinary enthusiasms?

4. Will you be using only the best ingredients in your gourmet cooking class? You don't want to be preparing food from cans and packets of frozen vegetables. Being able to choose the best food at market is one of the professional chef's key skills. Does the school choose its food like the professionals do?

5. Finally, will the gourmet cooking class give you the qualifications you need to launch the next phase of your culinary career? There are many recognised certificates and diplomas in cooking. It makes sense to arm yourself with the best qualifications you can - especially if you want a career making food for gourmets.

There are many cooking schools out there offering gourmet cooking classes. It's well worth spending time finding the one that best meets your needs, and gives you the most opportunities when you graduate. And of course, if you are passionate about good food, a gourmet cooking class will enrich your life too.