I would like to get certified to be a raw food chef. I found an online certification class but i'm not sure of the legitimacy. i have you heard of 'TheRawVeganNetwork'? Have you heard of any other good certification programs that are affordable and accessible?

peace&happiness,
ann

Annie, as regards 'legitimacy', as I expect you know, any person can call themselves a raw food teacher, run classes and issue certificates of raw food cheffery to others. That includes people who have been raw for five minutes, and who aren't actually raw at all. I think it's the case worldwide that there aren't any 'recognised' qualifications in the sense conventional qualifications would be 'recognised'.

You're doing the right thing by simply asking what programs people have heard of. I took a short course with Karen Knowler in the UK, and also obtained two Alissa Cohen certificates, although note her recipes are relatively high in fat - my diet's not quite the same as it was when I took those courses! The US programs I've heard of are those run by Gabriel Cousens at his Tree of Life centre (although not sure whether they're running currently), Alissa Cohen (quite short courses), and Cherie Sorya (sp?)at the Living Lights Institute. There will be more, but they're the ones that spring to mind for me. And, of course, there are different sorts of raw food diet, and these cater for particular sorts, eg Cherie is 'rawgourmet'.

I have actually heard of TheRawVeganNetwork, once or twice over the years, but haven't heard of any raw food chefs naming them on their 'cv', as it were.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2010 10:55AM by debbietook.

thanks Debbie for the info!

i think this world is certifiably over-certified I think if you have a skill or message then step up share it and spread the word start your business and strut your stuff

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

This question gets asked a lot on raw forums.

It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to work in a raw restaurant or cafe, actual restaurant experience of any kind can carry more weight than having a raw chef cert. Sarma Melngailis (owner of Pure Food and Wine in NYC) and Raw Chef Dan (owner of Quintessence raw food restaurant in NYC) have both said that they'd rather take someone with restaurant experience and train them than someone with a raw chef cert with no restaurant experience. I can see their point. Restaurant work is really hard and profit margins are often paper-thin; I have friends in the industry. Knowing what the professional restaurant world is like before spending the $$ for a raw chef cert is a good idea, I think.

Matt Kenney (former partner of Sarma Melngailis) has opened a raw food chef school in Oklahoma, called 105 Degrees. (http://105degreesacademy.com/about/). Given Kenney's talent as a chef (he was quite well-known as a 'regular' chef before going raw and opening Pure Food and Wine with Sarma), this one might be very interesting. It is not one of these 'get certified in a weekend' courses; it is structured the same way as classical cooking schools--the kind of cooking education that Kenney himself had--so I think the education offered to students would be quite thorough. Kenney's style is definitely sophisticated raw gourmet, and many people on this forum aren't into that. I've made some of his easy recipes (not requiring a dehydrator and tons of exotic ingredients) and liked them a whole lot.

Cherie Soria's raw food chef academy is well-regarded by many. I looked at the curriculum and it certainly has more rigor than Alissa Cohen's raw chef courses.

If working in a restaurant is not what you want to do, but you want to do workshops and demonstrations and the like, I would agree with Jodi--I don't think a raw food chef cert is necessary. I've gone to several workshops and demonstrations by people who don't have certs, and enjoyed them a lot. What these people did have was the ability to create interesting, tasty, and well-designed raw meals. That comes from lots of experimentation, which can be done in your own kitchen.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

Um...I think I am certified, or certifiable, at least...In any case, I am also wondering about becoming a raw chef and going to a traditional cooking school. Like, do they offer a vegetarian section for those who would never want to work with flesh foods?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2010 01:40AM by banana who.

Beware for-profit cooking schools such as California Culinary Academy.... they are just there to take your money, and you can learn what they have to offer by going to a community college, or just apprenticing.

banana who Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Um...I think I am certified, or certifiable, at
> least...In any case, I am also wondering about
> becoming a raw chef and going to a traditional
> cooking school. Like, do they offer a vegetarian
> section for those who would never want to work
> with flesh foods?

The raw chef schools I mentioned above definitely are raw vegan.

A more 'traditional' culinary school that is very much centered around organic etc. cooking is the Natural Gourmet cooking school in NYC (http://www.naturalgourmetinstitute.com/). A (vegetarian) friend of mine went there, and apprenticed at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco. It's a tough and demanding school. She learned a whole lot. Check out their curriculum.

One thing, though--Natural Gourmet, Matt Kenney's school and Cherie Soria's school are NOT CHEAP. They are professional culinary academies and require a major investment of time and money--Natural Gourmet in particular costs about as much as getting a master's degree (about 21K). My friend quit her job and moved up to NYC temporarily to attend Natural Gourmet full-time because for her it was the way she could get the training she wanted so she could change careers.