CEBU CITY—After cooking shows like Master Chef and Hell’s Kitchen captured the hearts of Filipinos, a newly opened culinary school aimed to give Cebuanos topnotch training in cooking opened.
The International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management (ISCAHM) has opened a campus in Cebu to provide cooking enthusiasts an avenue for a formal culinary education.
The Cebu facility is the third campus for ISCAHM, which is owned, developed and managed by chefs who are top international hotel professionals.
The culinary school’s two other campuses are located in Makati City, which opened in 2002, and in Quezon City, which opened in 2003.
The culinary school has been known to have helped almost 80 percent of their students get a job after graduation.
Hansjorg Schallenberg, one of the founders and director of ISCAHM, pointed at the school’s unparalleled record of producing graduates who have excelled both in the country and abroad as its advantage over other culinary schools.
Equipped with state-of-the-art cooking facilities found in 5-star hotels, the ISCAHM vowed to provide its students comprehensive theoretical knowledge and practical hands-on experience.
The training at the school will be handled by a roster of hotel executive chefs from Canada and the Philippines.
The ISCAHM offers a complete range course in the hospitality industry that includes culinary arts, pastry arts and hotel management courses.
Aspiring students can choose to enroll for a 12-month diploma course for P280,000; 8-month diploma course for P180,000 and short courses that amount to P2,500 per five-hour session.
The 12-month and 8-month diploma courses include a 2-month internship in the city’s premier hotels. Classes will run for four hours from Monday to Friday, with night classes available for busy professionals.
“Our school provides the same quality education culinary schools abroad provide. So why go abroad and spend more if you can learn here?” Schallenberg adds.
The program includes classes in knife handling, cooking methods, menu planning and food presentation, among others. Students will also learn how to cook soups, sauces, Asian specialties, European dishes and other international cuisine favorites.
Stressing interest as the sole basis for learning, Schallenberg says that culinary arts were skills that need to be learned and nurtured, which the ISCAHM could fully provide to everyone.
“As long as you have the interest in cooking, you are welcome here. No age limit. No requirements. Just the passion for cooking,” he adds.