Cooking

Canada’s (US) $145 billion food industry is supported by world-class training opportunities for aspiring professionals, but also amateurs and gourmands interested in picking up cooking skills, to sharpen their knives and delight taste buds. These range from accredited culinary arts programs at top colleges to recreational cooking classes offered by schools and companies across Canada.

Culinary arts programs in Canada, including diplomas and certificates, provide students with hands-on training in various areas of the culinary industry, from classic and contemporary à la carte cuisine, baking and pastry arts, flavour and cooking methods to nutrition, menu planning, and safety and sanitation. The curriculum is designed to equip students with the knowledge and hands-on cooking skills they need to succeed in the industry, whether they want to work in a restaurant, for a catering company, in hospitality or in other roles across a growing food industry.

Meanwhile, recreational cooking classes will give learners bite-sized training, often in specialized functions, like knife skills, sautéing, roasting, and braising, food chemistry, wine pairing and more, usually in group settings designed to be as fun as they are instructive. These cooking classes will introduce learners to fundamental cooking skills and new recipes inspired by local and international cuisine.

Graduates of Canada’s best culinary schools go on to work in a variety of capacities, including chefs, sous chefs, pastry chefs, line cooks, and food service managers, among others. The average salary of a chef in Canada is $46,000 according to the Government of Canada Job Bank. Chefs who were also owners or partners in a food business, typically a restaurant, reported an average salary of $82,158 per year.