Associate Program of Culinary Arts

Hello. My name is Mehmet Öz. I am a student Associate Program of Culinary Arts at Cappadocia University, Cappadocia Vocational College. I will briefly tell you my department today. I will speak about the first thing that comes to mind when one hears cookery and what cookery is The department of cookery is established to enable uneducated people in the sector to study this profession and acquire more information. The biggest problem of this profession is lack of education. There are a lot of kitchen staff who can work without any training with rough knowledge. The aim of this department is to train and prepare cooks for the sector and provide a better education for them. Our school is a vocational college. It is a department specifically established to prepare us for the profession. The courses given in general are practical courses. These courses are separated as Turkish Cuisine and World Cuisine. But in general we are practising the most important applications, such as holding a knife and shaking a pan. Our first grade classes are; Ingredient Information and Kitchen Management courses. In ingredient information course; we learned not only onions, potatoes, vegetables and fruits, but also the history of them in detail. We have done many applications in our kitchen. We also learned the finest details. In our practice lessons, we first learn to hold the knife. The first thing to be learnt by a chef is holding a knife. The most important equipment in the kitchen is the knife. First we learn this: how to hold a knife, how to use it, how to chop everything. There are six kinds of chopping techniques, we've learned all of them. In our pastry class, we learn about fine details such as how to use and preheat the oven in details. We have many practical lessons like this. There are four ovens in our workshop, including three convection ovens and one pizza oven. Our dishwasher is in a separate section. We have our wardrobes inside, and our office in our kitchen.

There are working benches, preparation benches, pastry cooker, benmari (Bain Marie), fryer and four ovens in our workshop. We have a separate pastry section in our kitchen. We have our bread and cake classes there. In addition, our workbenches, quarries, cabinets, dressing room and our office are in our kitchen. As for our internships I can say that; We have internships at the end of the first class and at the end of the second class. During the first year, we go to the schools, which are contracted with out university, for our internship. In the second year, we experience an internship in the most luxurious restaurants of Istanbul. Besides this, we have friends who had their internship abroad within Erasmus Program. When you graduate from the department, if you develop yourself in the sector, then you can find excellent job opportunities. It's totally up to you. The area, in which you are interested and you develop yourself more, shapes your career. You can work in that area, like bread and pastry, steak house, restaurant chains, line chief... whichever you prefer... I met with cookery department during my high school years. After I did my internship, I started to love the profession and learned that I needed to improve myself more. I knew that our school's cookery education was very high. I learned that it provides a very good quality education, I met and spoke with graduates. I chose this department after I obtained enough information. For me, our biggest difference from other schools is; ingredients. I mean, we used all ingredients, the most qualified ones here, and we did not have any troubles. This was one of my biggest advantages. After graduating, I want to start to work in a restaurant and after I developed myself more, I want to be a chef. Each department of our school is very successful and prepares students for the profession in the best way. We are very well trained. I chose the cookery program and won a 100% scholarship. Scholarship opportunities in other departments of our school are too high. If they research these, they can see it themselves. In advance, I already wish success to friends who will choose our department and university.