New School students now have the option of taking culinary classes with professional chefs. The New School just began a credit-mobility system with the renowned International Culinary Center (ICC), formerly know as the French Culinary Institute. Students at both the New School for Public Engagement and the ICC can now transfer credits between the two schools to complete their degree.
Known for their highly regarded French Culinary school and aptly named restaurant L’Ecole restaurant in Soho, ICC has been consistently broadening their courses and training sessions since opening nearly 40 years ago.
“This is a terrific opportunity for aspiring food writers, marketers, restaurateurs — or anyone who is interested in investigating our society through its foodways,” said the Department Head of Food Studies at The New School, Fabio Parasecoli.
Classes vary from one-day to 9-month programs and cover a wide array of cuisines and cooking styles from macarons to Japanese fire-and-water cooking methods back to the art of baking the perfect croissant. The brand new Spanish Culinary Program at ICC is in its budding stages, but already boasts a week-long trip to Spain while working closely with world class Chef José Andrés, the designer of the program.
Headed by Dean Jacques Pepin, and with an extensive roster of successful alumni chefs all over the world such as David Chang, Bobby Flay, Dan Barber, Wylie Dufresne, and Christina Tosi, ICC is one of the leading culinary schools in the world.
Assistant Professor of Food Studies Andy Smith explained that the cooperation benefits students from both universities.
“The New School’s new program with the International Culinary Center is a great opportunity for ICC students to get an undergraduate degree,” he said. “ICC students in the program have enrolled in my Food Studies classes and they have greatly enriched the classes. I’m delighted with their active and thoughtful participation.”
ICC is a 5-story building, the length of a New York City block, filled with large industry standard kitchens and bakeries, two dining rooms, a large event space, and a few offices. It also has a library with literature, recipe books, and periodicals.
The space is designed to provide students with hands-on experience while working in an industry kitchen closely supervised by an instructor. Each student works in kitchen classrooms at a fully supplied station, with burners, a oven, and cooking utensils. There are 24 stations per kitchen. Each class is maxed out every season.
“It’s not a questions of whether you want to work in the industry, it’s about where you want to work in the industry,” explained Phil Gutensohn, Director of Conferences & Special Initiatives at ICC. “We give you the bedrock fundamentals to go on and do anything in the culinary world: work in fine dining, be a personal chef, catering, working with kids and school food, anything.”
ICC has also opened its three-month study abroad program in Italy to New School students. Students have the opportunity to live in Parma, Italy, for 3 months, and work in a professional Italian restaurant kitchen. The program provides students with cultural and language training to maximize their experience in Italy.
ICC currently offers programs in Classic Culinary Arts, including a number of intensives courses such as Classic Pastry Arts and Italian Culinary Experience. Each program will grant students 22 credits towards a Bachelor of Arts or Science degree from NSPE. Intensive sommelier training and restaurant management classes are also available. Students can take their ICC courses at the New York or San Francisco campus.