Specialise at SA’s Premier Specialist Chef Academy and School

Specialise at SA’s Premier Specialist Chef Academy and School

In virtually every field of human endeavour one cares to mention, the majority of people are ordinary or average in what they do, even though many of them are probably quite competent in their allocated duties. Somewhat depressingly, the world is mostly made up of “mediocre”.

Sector Specialists

However, there are many niche sectors that are constantly striving to advance, innovate, and achieve perfection. And every field has its specialists – people who have studied, qualified, and dedicated themselves to their occupations, as well as specialist academies, institutes, and schools that are committed to educating and training these students that wish to become specialists in their own right and the best at what they do.

South Africa’s Leading Specialist Chefs Academy

In South Africa, the leading specialist chefs’ academy and culinary training school is Prue Leith Chefs Academy, the country’s premier chef academy, initially established in 1996 for the then-sole purpose of locally training professional chefs to world-class standards. Some people are under the mistaken impression that the prestigious Prue Leith school of culinary arts was started by the lady herself, Prue Leith CBE, because the academy carries her name. However, the school’s founders approached Prue and she gave permission for her name to be used as that of the academy, because she believed in their mission and intent – educating and training new South African student chefs to top professional standards in South Africa.

Born of an Unfulfilled Need for Culinary Excellence

 By the mid-1990s, Prue Leith chef school’s trio of founding members had grown discontent with importing chefs from abroad and hoping that they would be of the required standards of excellence. Usually, they were not, leading to disappointment and frustration and a waste of time, money, and effort. Whenever this occurred, they would find themselves right back at square one. Of course, this was prior to them opening Prue Leith Chefs Academy’s doors to the first intake of chef school students in 1997 – an endeavour that has grown from strength to strength, building a reputation for excellence in the challenging, highly competitive culinary field.

Preferred Professionals

Today, many employers in the hospitality industry are known to give preference to graduates of the Prue Leith school when recruiting new professional chefs for vacancies, to the extent that some will specify that they want Prue Leith graduates only. A good number of our graduates have also gone on to work in the kitchens of famous chefs who have achieved celebrity status in the culinary world. In addition to our range of full-time professional courses, post-graduate programmes, a huge range of short courses for non-professionals, and select part-time courses are also on offer at our school, catering for all levels of interest and commitment.

Say and Do it All

 At Prue Leith Chefs Academy, we offer hands-on, City & Guilds-accredited culinary training that covers everything from classic French cuisine to exotic Ethiopian food culture, in addition to avant-garde molecular gastronomy”. Together with our committed students, we can, and do, do it all to train tomorrow’s culinary specialists.