Cooking School & the Vegetarian

Let's answer some questions asked of me recently regarding cooking school (esp. LCB Paris) and vegetarians / those with food allergies.

I'm a vegetarian.  Do they make you taste the dishes that include meat?
The purpose for the tastings at the end of class is so that you know how a well-prepared dish should taste.  It is also so that you can replicate the recipes appropriately.  If you're vegetarian and choose not to taste, remember that this can affect how well you cook.  Guesswork  doesn't really cut it if you don't understand the finished product.

My question back to you who are vegetarians: why are you going to cooking school?  If you don't want to taste any meat and don't plan on cooking it, find another program that tailors to your diet.  (Keep in mind that it's difficult in France.)  But if you plan to work in a restaurant and are fine knowing that you will be cooking meat, consider tasting the plates in the beginning to really build a foundation for what reduced sauces and stocks taste like.  Remember that you don't have to actually eat what you make in practical class, and there are plenty of people you can give the food away to.  Just taste!

One classmate was vegetarian not for ethical reasons, but because her body didn't digest meat well.  She still tasted to understand the final product, especially sauces that were stock-based.  Every recipe we made during practical in the Cuisine program included meat of some kind.

At our official class dinners, the sign-up sheet always included an option for vegetarian meals.  However, there wasn't an option for vegans.  Talk to the people in charge of coordinating these dinners if you need a special meal.  Don't be afraid to ask- after all, you've paid for the dinner and should enjoy it!

I'm allergic to XYZ.  Will I still have to cook with it?
First of all, understand your food allergy before you begin classes.  Are you allergic to peanut oil or just peanuts?  Are you allergic to just the raw form or all forms?  What do you do if you accidentally eat it?  If you don't understand your allergy, you can't expect others to understand or help you.

Figure out how to politely say "I am allergic to XYZ" in French or whatever language your cooking school is in.  At LCB, if you informed the chefs of your allergy, you didn't have to cook with that ingredient.   If you tell the chefs when you first get there, some can be quite accommodating and will prepare a tasting for you that doesn't include what you're allergic to.  However, this doesn't work if you're allergic to lobster and the main ingredient is lobster.  In that case, just cook it and don't taste!  Even if you can't eat the result, at least you spent more time in the kitchen and gained some experience.

If you are extremely allergic to something, be cognizant of the fact that there is a lot of cross-contamination between ingredients in the kitchen.  Some people still cooked with ingredients they were allergic to but wore gloves (and obviously didn't eat the finished product).  Err on the safe side and don't eat anything you're suspicious about.

Know what the offending ingredient looks like.  This may sound silly and obvious, but if you are allergic to all nuts, know what a blanched and a roasted almond looks like.  This way, you don't accidentally eat it because of ignorance.

Last but not least, pay attention during demonstration.  An offending ingredient might not be in the recipe, but the chef might be spontaneous and decide to add it into the recipe.

Hopefully I've covered the questions thoroughly.  Let me know under Comments if I can further clarify!

Bon appétit!

Comments

[nichelle]

Wow I didn't expect to see an entire post dedicated to my questions but I certainly appreciate it.

As a vegan interested in the culinary arts I don't just limit my knowledge to that of my own diet. So I had to make peace with myself and my moral code that tasting meat and/or other animal by products in the pursuit of more knowledge didn't make me a horrible person, just a thorough student. So my question had more to do with what you mentioned briefly in regards to dinners and so forth with the group. Were vegetarian/vegan options made available, etc.

I was also just plainly curious as to whether any other students at LCB Paris were vegetarians/vegans as I haven't run across many vegan foodies.

My main concern was the food allergy question though. Which you answered even better than LCB Paris (they were pretty vague) so thank you. And thanks for the advice about understanding your allergy. Most of my allergies I've had since childhood so avoiding any and all foodstuffs containing the offending allergens has become second nature. To my detriment I'm afraid as most allergies mutate (lessen, worsen, appear, or disappear) as you age. I was considering going to an immunologist to get tested for my old allergies and doing some home research (epi-pen at the ready) for reference.

Thanks again for the input. :-)

nichelle

[Chez Christine]

nichelle: you're welcome! It's difficult to have special diets in France, but it's totally possible.

[MLO]

If only it was so simple for the food allergic. The problem is that if the substance is aerosolized for some food allergic persons they cannot be where it is cooked. It really is not feasible for those with _severe_ food allergies to go to cooking school.

Pax,

MLO

[herbal tooth paste]

Last but not least, pay attention during demonstration. An offending ingredient might not be in the recipe, but the chef might be spontaneous and decide to add it into the recipe.

[Mark]

Great post. thank you I have been to your site several times now, and this time I am adding it to my bookmarks. Keep it up with the great work.