not imbibing during a culinary program @ L'Academie de Cuisine

[dangyebbie]

Can anyone tell me if culinary schools require their students to taste wine during the chapter on wines? I don't imbibe for religious reasons and don't want to be forced to as part of my education. I'm looking into L'Academie de Cuisine in Maryland in particular, so if there are any L'Academie alum or current students, your input would be most appreciated. Also, forgive me my naivete, but students aren't taught or expected to kill live animals like chickens, are they? I presume that's done only with fish and that, with the land animals, they just learn how to prepare the cuts. Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Greg]

No, you won't be required to drink alcohol. Many times the students are below the legal age limit. There are also insurance cost issues that schools are not willing to deal with.

I've never heard of any culinary schools that teach slaughtering, you should be fine there, as well.

[Suzanne]

Greg is right: no school forces you to do anything that is against your principles. Nor will they force you to eat anything you're allergic to. Just saying "I don't like this" or "I can't taste salsas at 8 in the morning" will NOT get you out of anything; but if you have a legitimate health or philosophical reason, you should be okay.

At my school we did have to watch a film made by the CIA about how cattle are slaughtered and butchered. It was difficult to watch in places. But we never had to kill ANYTHING, not even fish. We learned to butcher (cut up) fish and chickens, yes, because that's a very important skill. But never had to deal with causing the death of any creature. (Although some of my classmates did harm themselves with knives, or making the rest of us sick with too much salt in the focaccia. None of that was required, believe me. )