culinary education – Catie Cooks

What Do You Do with a Degree in Food?

Although I didn’t officially celebrate graduation until May, it has now been one year since I finished the coursework for my gastronomy master’s degree. I am reflecting on what this degree has done for me and whether it was worth it. I won’t sugarcoat things. Grad school is ridiculously expensive. When self-financing a degree, it…

Catie is back in the kitchen!

After a summer off, I am officially back to school at BU. This is my third semester in the Gastronomy program. Not only am I back in class, but I am working again in the teaching kitchen, as the Julia Child Teaching Assistant for the Fall 2020 semester. I have never been so unmotivated to…

Cooking Up Culture

Part of my new job as a graduate assistant for Culinary Arts is assisting with our hands-on classes. Our department holds cooking classes for kids aged 8-17, called “Cooking Up Culture.” We are hosting two classes this term, and the first one was last weekend with Irene Li of Mei Mei. Last semester, I had…

James Beard Food Waste Event

I am about a month into my second semester of grad school. I’m taking Food & Gender and Anthropology of Food as my classes. I also was hired as a graduate assistant for Culinary Arts. This is so exciting for me because it means I get to spend more time in the BU Kitchen. So,…

Culinary Arts Graduation

For those of you who have been following my journey during the Culinary Arts program, thank you! I do apologize for failing to finish my weekly updates, but I do appreciate all the support I’ve received. This class was seriously the time of my life. I learned so much, but I had a blast while…

Culinary Arts Final Project

After 14 weeks fo learning techniques and anxiously awaiting what my fate would be, we finally made it to our final projects. We would be preparing one of three planned menus. The appetizer was completely up to us, so long as the ingredients would be available in the kitchen. The three assigned options for entree…

Jacques Pepin Week

I apologize for my absence. After Thanksgiving, I had so much going on with projects for school and work. I was so tired, so I put my writing on the back burner. Well, I have made it through finals, meaning my first semester of grad school is officially over. I have completed my Christmas shopping…

Culinary Arts Program – Week Ten

I just typed the week in the title as a double digits, which freaked me out a bit. 10 weeks! How is the time passing by so quickly?!? I have learned so much over these past 10 weeks, and I truly have had the time of my life doing it. Week 10 (which should not…

Culinary Arts Program – Week Nine

What an exciting but tiring week in the Culinary Arts kitchen! I had a number of first time experiences. (Warning: there are a couple photos of dead, skinned animals below.) My first new experience was during butchering day. Never have I had the chance to butcher an entire animal. I was expecting to be freaked…

Culinary Arts Program – Weeks SEven & Eight

I have been so very busy the last couple of weeks. I am trying to keep up with school, work, and taking some time to build a new routine. So, I am doing a brief summary of what happened over the past couple weeks at culinary arts school. Week seven started off with flavors class,…