“Sit down and I’ll show you how much I know.”
As a young culinary arts student in New Orleans, that was the ego-driven attitude of many of my instructors.
Kristen Grissom had a similar experience, and today she believes that approach has gotten in the way of the mission of higher education. Grissom is head of the Culinary Institute of the Carolinas at Greenville Technical College, where I taught for two semesters. I can attest she is not the sort to show off.
She’s starting her 12th year with the institute and today the school boasts a 65% graduation rate, which is quite high for such a school. She does see students quit school because they’ve been convinced by their present employers — restaurants, hotels or country clubs — that they do not need their degrees because they can “learn everything they need at work.” I vehemently disagree. The books, the lectures, the assignments and lab work are a critical part of understanding the path to an executive chef, restaurant owner or general manager.
“I love seeing a student come in green, not being able to sharpen a knife, dice a carrot, or butcher a chicken and a few years later they have a cooking job they love, their kitchen skills are sharp and they see a path to success in hospitality,” Grissom said. “On the other hand, we also have a fair number of people that come here just to be great cooks. They may be retired or on a sabbatical and they want to learn the craft of professional cooking. I love that, and learning to cook is never a bad idea.
“When I accepted the department head position, I had a lot of preconceived notions on the position, and in this job I counsel a lot of kids that are struggling with the basic necessities of life. Over the years we’ve had a lot of students that lacked housing, transportation or the money to purchase their school necessities.”
Graduates of the Culinary Institute of the Carolinas are at the helm of some of our city’s best-known restaurants and that’s a significant boost to our town’s morale — and Grissom’s.
“I love that we are helping to boost Greenville’s culinary scene. I grew up in Florida and this is my adopted hometown,” she said. “I love Greenville, and our school gets to play a part in what makes Greenville special. Plus, the culinary arts is a career that technology or AI will never take away. It will always be a craft practiced by devoted culinarians.”
Greenville Tech’s Culinary Institute of the Carolinas offers several areas of study and the Career Pathways Scholarship may cover the cost of tuition, books and fees.
“City Juice” is a colloquial term for a glass of tap water served at a diner. John Malik is a culinary adviser and broker with National Restaurant Properties. He can be reached at [email protected].
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