Culinary Arts Colleges - Cooking Schools - What's the Difference?

The terms culinary arts colleges and cooking schools are often times used interchangeably. To some people, they are the same thing. To others, the term culinary arts college denotes a greater degree of education than a cooking school. There can be differences and usually there are.

A culinary arts college will typically provide a student with a verifiable diploma, certificate or degree whether it be a two year or a four year college degree. Most of the better culinary arts colleges are certified or accredited which means that they have to meet specific standards to be able to teach culinary arts courses.

A cooking school can range from a one man show to a mom and pop cooking class in someone else's kitchen. It can also be a cooking school that provides a diploma or a certificate upon completion and it may also be accredited.

It is important to look up both terms when searching for a college or school to complete a culinary arts college degree because there is a chance that the terms are being used interchangably. If they are and you don't check out both, you may be missing a culinary arts college or cooking school that you could have attended but didn't find because you didn't do a thorough enough search.

If you think you just want to learn a little bit more about cooking then choose the terminology "cooking school" or "cooking classes" or "cooking demonstrations" in your google search. If you want to attend a two or four year college then type in "culinary arts colleges" or "culinary arts college degree", or "culinary arts college site" to get the best returns.