L’Academie de Cuisine transforms your passion for cooking into the ability to prepare great food, whether as a professional chef, or simply to please the people you care about. Because L’Academie isn’t just about learning about cooking or the restaurant business, it’s about cooking. Both the professional curriculum and recreational classes train students to use classic technique and craft. In the spirit of the Swiss culinary tradition of our founder, Francois Dionot, you receive the most uncompromising culinary training, in which practical skills become second nature. L’Academie’s small classes make this experience possible. Students practice, practice, practice, using the finest tools and ingredients, under the practiced eyes of professional instructors. Professional students all serve externships at the DC area’s finest kitchens, where many of them stay on as professionals, bringing their disciplined technique with them. Indeed, over its more than 30 year history, L’Academie has both benefited from the growth of the DC food scene and contributed significantly to it. In DC, serious cooking has a home at L’Academie.
Professional Programs Mission Statement
L’Academie de Cuisine’s (LAC) mission is to provide professional educational programs in the culinary and pastry arts that prepare students for employment and advancement in the hospitality industry. The institution seeks to continually grow and expand all levels of culinary and pastry education in response to hospitality industry needs. Chefs working in the foodservice industry expect quality trained cooks to perform the necessary duties in their kitchen, so that these kitchens run efficiently and at a profit. Chefs expect our students to be skilled foodservice professionals able to perform effectively at one or more key positions in the professional kitchen.
Recreational Classes Mission Statement
L’Academie de Cuisine’s mission is to provide quality culinary education to the general public for recreational purposes. Indicated by the increase in food publications, fine dining restaurants, television programming and specialty food retail stores, there is an increase for the appreciation of food and its preparations. The short term avocational courses, which make up the body of the Bethesda branch classes, are designed to entertain as well as educate. The institutions’ goal is to continually grow and expand to offer all levels of culinary education in response to the general public’s needs and awareness.