(Announcer)
The Culinary Arts Program at Georgia Northwestern
Technical College offers professional culinary
experience in a beautiful gourmet restaurant
setting that exposes students to a wide array
of international influences and advanced cooking
methods.
The program is taught at the Floyd County
Campus of Georgia Northwestern Technical College
at the Woodlee Building, an early 20th century
dwelling that has been renovated and updated
to include a first-class teaching kitchen,
commercial-grade equipment, and an elegant
serving area.
(Chef Greg Paulson Director of Culinary Arts,
GNTC)
The students will hit the ground running - they
all will come into the class and they'll learn
about the history of the uniform and the
history of food and cuisine and after that
they'll start right in immediately into the
kitchen theyll start off basically learning
knife skills and knife cuts theyll go into
garde manger and do fruit and vegetable carvings
they'll learn hot food cookery as well.
We have an extensive bakery program and they'll
learn hands-on making breads and doughs and
pies and cakes all the way up to wedding cakes.
Then we get into the hot food cookery.
(Announcer)
Greg Paulson is the Program Director for the
Culinary Arts Program at Georgia Northwestern
Technical College.
According to Chef Greg, the program starts
students out with the basic skills and then
they work their way up to the advanced culinary
techniques needed to become a master chef.
(Greg Paulson)
Our program is basically kind of layered,
so they start them out very elementary.
They'll start out in the beginning with knife
skills and then they'll start going into the
hot food cookery or preparation they'll learn
how to make stocks and sauces then they'll
learn how to make soups and then theyll learn
all the different ways to cook food whether
it be braising, sauteeing, poaching, simmering
and so on and so fourth and then they'll elevate
into the further courses where they'll actually
star creating dishes . . well talk about regional
cuisine, international cuisine, dishes, . . And
we have elective classes where they'll learn
baking, they'll learn how to make salads,
salad dressings, and then they'll start getting
into showpieces.
Terrines and pates, they'll learn ice sculpturing.
So by the time they walk out of here they
can get pretty much any kind of culinary position
with a full background knowledge.
(Kristina Lee, Manager, WOW Cafeé and Wingery)
It taught us how to cost out, say what a dish
would be . . how to do labor cost . . how
to calculate a deposit at the end of the night,
just small things that people dont even think
of that goes on a restaurant.
(Announcer)
Kristina Lee is the manager for WOW Cafe and
Wingery in Rome, Georgia.
Kristina says that her experiences with the
Culinary Arts program prepared her for a career
in the restaurant business by providing full
background knowledge in all aspects of the
food service industry.
(Kristina Lee)
Weve been taught how to cost out menus, how
to bring in a profit from a restaurant, or
a bakery, or a banquet, how to set a table
for an elaborate banquet, all the little knick
knacks people see but don't think are part
of the culinary world . . but they are.
(Announcer)
A wide variety of students, of all ages, take
part in the program, including experienced
chefs that want to expand their knowledge
of the culinary industry.
(Gilbert June)
Well Ive been in the culinary field my whole
life, but I didnt start learning the science
and techniques and things like that until
I got here at GNTC.
It's been about two years but in that amount
of time I have learned more than in my 15
years of experience work in the culinary field.
(Announcer)
The Culinary Arts program is taught in the
Woodlee Building at the Floyd County Campus
of Georgia Northwestern Technical College.
This exquisite setting provides students with
both a fully equipped modern kitchen and an
elegant dining area that gives a comprehensive
experience in the culinary profession.
The Horticulture program is located beside
the Woodlee Building and Horticulture students
decorate the house, tend to the landscaping,
and supply fresh vegetables and herbs that
the chefs use to create gourmet dishes.
The teaching kitchen is a recent addition
to the main structure and was designed to
match the existing classic architecture.
(Greg Paulson)
Being here in this Woodlee facility is wonderful.
We've replicated the exterior architecture
to simulate the same architecture the house
was designed in.
So it's not like the traditional classroom
setting like you see in colleges and high
schools.
Its more unique and more personable and its
surely a more homey feeling and warmer feeling
for the students.
(Announcer)
Graduates of the program can go to work not
only at restaurants, but also for hotels,
bakeries, country clubs, healthcare facilities,
catering services, and resorts.
As part of the curriculum, the Culinary Arts
Program hosts private dinners and parties
at the Woodlee Building to give the students
practical experience in the culinary industry.
(Greg Paulson)
We'll do like an Italian theme or Spanish
theme or German theme, Russian theme and offer
it out to the public.
Also during our banquet and front of the house
service program the students will actually
create a banquet and well serve the public
a private banquet where they'll came in and
well have the servers actually serve the banquet
and in that program well actually use American
service Russian service French service where
they'll actually prepare items table side
for the guest and the students love it.
(Gilbert June)
Well that's a big part of the program is learning
not only regional foods here in the United
States, but international food and like I
say when your trying to narrow down to something
that you want to do, you start learning about
all these international foods and it's a wealth
of information.
You learn everything, not only about the food,
about the people and the history of these
areas of all over the world.
(Announcer)
To enter the Culinary Arts program at Georgia
Northwestern Technical College a student must
be:
16-years-old or older
Have a high school diploma or a GED.
and
Pass an entrance test.
(Greg Paulson)
But really the entrance exam for me the entrance
that I look at is their passion.
They have to have passion for the culinary
arts and I would strongly recommend that they
are very creative individuals and just that
they love to cook.
(Nicholas Bono)
I love to see a meal come completely from
scratch made together into this wonderful
dish and then someone sitting down and enjoying
every bite of it.
(Announcer)
Employment opportunities in the food service
industry are constantly growing.
So if you find the creative, fast-paced environment
of the food industry appealing, and if you
have a passion for creating food, then the
culinary profession may be just right for
you
(Nicholas Bono)
We got top of the line equipment, we learn
the traditional skills a chef needs for cutting
and cooking and processing all the food and
meats and how to serve . . plates of art!
(Announcer)
To find out more about GNTC's Culinary Arts
Program, visit our website or give us a call
for more information.
