Year after year, people migrate to beautiful Portland, Oregon to attend culinary arts school. Just two hours away from the Pacific Ocean and an hour away from the mountains, the city is clean, green and filled with cultural delights. The beautiful downtown sparkles; the charming boutique hotels beckon. And for student chefs, Portland is a mecca – a forward-thinking city where organic foods, local wines and fresh seafood are an intrinsic part of local cooking schools.
There are three major culinary arts schools in Portland, all within walking distance of each other. So what makes Oregon Culinary Institute so special?
Intensive Chef Training from an Affordable Cooking School
“We saw a need for affordable, hands-on culinary arts education,” says Eric Stromquist, OCI President. “Many cooking schools are cost-prohibitive. It can easily cost $60,000 to complete a similar program at another school. Add on interest and that number can quickly go over $75,000.” Oregon Culinary Institute students can complete all three degree programs offered by the cooking school for less than $50,000.
Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland and the Art Institute, also of Portland, each offer a similar curriculum but they aren’t quite the same as OCI, for a number of reasons. Le Cordon Bleu's program is similar in cost to OCI, but Le Cordon Bleu's cooking school is much less intensive. The Art Institute is also similar in price for a single degree program, but the curriculum includes additional liberal arts courses, steering away from the core restaurant management and cooking classes offered by the Oregon Culinary Institute.
Popular Portland Culinary Arts School Focuses on the Essentials
The Oregon Culinary Institute was founded on the principle that every aspect of the cooking school’s training would prepare students for the restaurant industry. The culinary arts school avoids trendy classes and focuses on basics, to ensure graduates are well-prepared to enter the industry. At the school, “Students focus on essential skills,” says Stromquist. Knife skills, ingredients and most importantly, flavor, set the pace and tone for classes and for working in the school’s restaurant.
“We make the students taste everything they make,” says Stromquist. “And repetition is everything.” Students have to repeat steps and techniques again and again. “The repetition builds proficiency and confidence. We also create a sense of urgency, to replicate how students will feel when they begin working in a restaurant.”
The classes at the culinary arts school are small and one on one instruction is key. “The intimate environment during class mimics a restaurant,” says Stromquist.
Choosing a Cooking School in Portland, Oregon – Kitchen Ninjas and The X Factor
For budding chefs, studying at a cooking school in Portland, Oregon is a cultural paradise. The Willamette Valley and the Pacific Ocean provide a bounty of raw products and organic foodstuffs. The Oregon Culinary Institute makes good use of the resources available to them and buys locally from sustainable vendors whenever possible, in a way that’s ecologically and economically sound.
Location is important when choosing a culinary arts school to attend. Even more important is the quality of education offered and the cost. Most important of all is what Stromquist refers to as the X Factor: The students at OCI are passionate about learning, and the instructors are dedicated to providing a high-quality education. The school’s mantra describes both:
Kitchen – An extraordinary place where flavors, technique, and skills combine to create delicacies from around the world.
Ninja – Specially trained in the skill and art of incredibly fast, deadly accurate, and invisible, seamless perfection.
Kitchen Ninja – A graduate of Oregon Culinary Institute.
For more information:
1717 SW Madison Street, Portland, OR 97205
1-888-OCI-CHEF (1-888-624-2433)
