Natural Gourmet Institute’s Chef’s Training Program consists of over 600 hours of rigorous, life-changing culinary education. Licensed by the New York State Department of Education, we are also the first culinary school dedicated to healthful cooking to be accredited nationally. Offered both as a full-time and part-time program, CTP is where you will learn essential cooking techniques, methods for sourcing ingredients, culinary business principles, and the art of healthful cooking.
Technique is applied to every aspect of a chef’s training – from choosing ingredients and cooking methods, to building flavors and textures in a dish. Technique is the foundation that supports your culinary training and allows you to understand the “how” and “why” behind a dish. As a student at NGI, you will master a wide variety of cooking methods, hone your knife skills, and develop culinary knowledge in order to create successful recipes and execute beautiful dishes.
Chefs must know how to choose and handle many different types of ingredients and bring out their best qualities. Through hands-on instruction you will learn how to assess ingredient quality based on NGI’s ingredient selection criteria: food should be seasonal, local, whole, traditional, balanced, fresh, and delicious. Additionally, you will learn about local and seasonal ingredient selection, and develop an understanding of seasonal availability, and proper growing and harvesting methods.
Food can be a powerful tool in healing the body. NGI’s food and healing coursework focuses on the healing and health-supportive qualities of ingredients and how to use them to create maximum health benefit. Through interdisciplinary training, you will learn both eastern and western food theory and application. Our in-house nutrition and health experts will lead you in practical classes and lecture sessions on topics such as: whole foods dynamics, living foods, clinical nutrition, and cooking for people with illnesses.
Using whole ingredients, traditional methods, and thoughtful preparations, you will create delicious and tempting traditional and flourless, vegan, and gluten-free desserts and breads. You will be guided in recipe conversion and development through hands-on classes in ingredient assessment, results comparison, and careful exploration of how to combine health-supportive ingredients to yield the best results.
As you continue to build your culinary skills and knowledge, you will be introduced to key aspects of the culinary industry. You will be taught how to develop and cost recipes, and cook for speed, volume and accuracy by Chef Instructors who are seasoned industry professionals. The culmination of this portion of training is Friday Night Dinner, where you will develop and execute a menu for up to 100 guests.
As the final portion of your training, you will take the skills and techniques you learned in the classroom into a professional kitchen. Over the course of a 100-hour internship, you will work in a professional setting under the supervision of chefs and senior cooks, and continue to develop your culinary knowledge. The internship will provide you with the opportunity to gain work experience, build your professional network, and learn additional skills in a new environment.
Teaching at Natural Gourmet Institute has allowed me to cook and talk about food in a way that you can’t find at other culinary schools. Not only do we teach the culinary basics that students need to thrive in the industry, we also teach them to create thoughtful, responsible and delicious food.
Barbara Rich
CTP Instructor
Monday to Thursday: 9 am — 4 pm
Friday: 9 am — 1 pm
Monday to Thursday: 9 am — 4 pm
Friday: 9 am — 1 pm
Wednesday: 6 pm — 10 pm
Saturday: 9 am — 6 pm
Monday: 6 pm — 10 pm
Sunday: 9 am — 6 pm
Applications are reviewed on a first come-first serve basis, space is limited. For schedules beginning on a later date, email admissions@nginyc.com.
Tuition includes all textbooks, course materials, uniforms, pastry tools, and full knife kit.
Natural Gourmet Institute works with Sallie Mae to provide Smart Option student loans to eligible applicants. Students may borrow up to the total tuition plus living expenses. Interest rates are variable and terms range from 1 to 10 years. For more, visit Sallie Mae.
Since graduating from Natural Gourmet Institute in 2002, I have manifested all the goals mapped out in my application essay for the Chef’s Training Program plus so much more than I could have ever imagined I would have accomplished. Being surrounded by supportive and progressive staff, teachers and students that year provided sacred time and space for deep learning and transformation.
Bryant Terry
Author, Afro-Vegan
