School for Food and Wine

Prue Leith’s School for Fine Food and Wine

The workplace has become highly specialised. Before taking on any career nowadays, it is increasingly important to undertake additional occupation-specific education and training in order to secure career development and a successful future.

Hands-On Practical Training

The emphasis is no longer only on purely academic, post-school tertiary education. Actual, hands-on practical training that equips students for employment immediately after graduation is also very important, particularly so in the competitive and creative field of food and wine.

South Africa’s Top Culinary School

There are almost as many types of schools that offer training as there are occupational niches. This brings us to our speciality at the prestigious Prue Leith Chefs Academy – food in all its guises and the wines we choose to accompany great dishes. We are proud to be recognised as South Africa’s top culinary school with a reputation for excellence and a premier positioning that we and our committed student body work to maintain and improve upon.

Talent Combined with Training

In the world of preparing and presenting superb meals and drinks, natural talent helps enormously. However, inborn culinary talent and passion should be combined with additional training in this ever-evolving and diverse field. A solid foundation upon which to build your culinary career is invaluable. Whilst one may be served fine fare at any meal, fine dining typically refers to dinner enjoyed at an establishment noted for its fine-dining cuisine. As such, fine wine is usually on offer to accompany the various courses. When executed properly, this practice is known as food-and-wine pairing, an integral component of delectable dining.

A Science and an Art

Combining or pairing food and wine to best advantage is both a science and an art, since food preparation, the ingredients used, and how they react during the cooking process involve science, as do the sensations produced on the nose, tongue, and palate with the introduction of an accompanying glass the gods’ nectar. The latter is intended to stimulate the appetite and complement and enhance the taste of a pleasing dish. It’s an art to get the pairing just right and in harmony.

Fortunately, perfect food-and-wine pairing is included and taught in the curriculum of our ALMA “Professional Chef of Italian Cuisine” course, taught by the expert lecturers at Prue Leith’s culinary school in partnership with Italy’s premier culinary institution, ALMA. Wines of Italy and WSET Level 1 Wine and Spirit courses are the respective subject and qualifications, since this delightful drink and fine food are synonymous with Italian dining. The same module and qualification are an optional inclusion in the curriculum of the Prue Leith school’s Introduction to Professional Cooking course. Our comprehensive Occupational Certificate: Chef Course includes WSET Level 1 in its third semester and the more advanced WSET Level 2 during the fifth.

A visit to the Prue Leith Restaurant, located at the same premises as the Prue Leith Chefs Academy in Centurion, is a must if you’d like to experience innovative fine dining at its best, produced and served by our school’s students during their second semester. It’s food at its best, with a superb selection of wines to match.