The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.
We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”
For today’s Did You Know we will look at Culinarian fun facts.
Culinarian Fun Facts: A “culinarian” is a person working in the culinary arts.
- July 25th is National Culinarian’s Day
- September 9th is National “I Love Food” Day.
- National Culinarian Day is a day to honor all chefs and cooks and to show our appreciation to them.
- It may be the chef at your favorite food truck or the person that cooks dinner in your home, which may be you, but whomever it is, this day is all about them.
- Culinary arts is the art of preparing and cooking foods.
- Culinary education is available from many institutions offering diploma, associate, and bachelor degree programs in the culinary arts field. Depending on the level of education desired, this can take one to four years.
- The patron saint of cooks is St. Martha.
Our Favorite Chef’s of All Time:
Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935)
This French chef and restaurateur changed the restaurant industry forever. He updated French cuisine, ushering it into the modern era. He is also responsible for changing the way kitchens are run, by setting up the standard system used in most restaurants with an executive chef, a chef de cuisine and a sous chef. He also arranged the kitchen so that each cook has his own designated station with specific assignments, such as grill, sauté and saucier. Much of this is still used today.
James Beard (1903-1985)
As an aspiring actor trying to make it big in New York City, James Beard opened up a catering company and never looked back. He eventually created a culinary empire that is running strong a quarter-century after his death. As the author of many cookbooks, as well as other food-based literature, and as a television personality, Beard made many Americans aware of their own culinary heritage for the first time. To this day, he is still one of the most influential figures in American cuisine, and his foundation doles out some of the most prestigious awards given to chefs.
Julia Child (1912-2004)
With her classic cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” regarded to this day as one of the most complete and revolutionary cookbooks of all time, and her television series “The French Chef,” Julia Child reinvented French cuisine in America. She made it accessible to the home cook by stripping away much of the pomp and frills that made completing a French classic seem like an unattainable goal. With her television series, she changed food media forever, and she did much to alter the landscape of the American restaurant scene. All of this makes her one of the most significant culinary figures of the 20th century.
If you go out to eat today, make sure and thank the chef….. if you eat at home, thank the cook.
Culinarian Fun Facts We Missed
If we missed any culinarian fun facts please feel free to let us know. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.
Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Chefs.
