Going to culinary school can be as pricey as buying a new car. Yet for those who live with a persistent calling to work in the food industry and can’t afford the high tuition to become formally trained, San Diego Continuing Education offers a creamy alternative.

Since adding a free culinary arts program to its lengthy list of vocational curriculums, the school has seen dozens of graduates land jobs in restaurants, hotel kitchens, catering companies and bakeries. And the best part is that they enter the job market free of any financial debts they might have incurred from attending private institutions.

The 600-hour, daytime program is divided into six separate modules, each spanning approximately 100 hours. Students invest about 25 hours a week in both lab and classroom environments at the school’s West City campus, located at 4375 Lee St. in Pacific Beach. Collectively, the modules cover much of the same subject material as in other culinary schools – food sanitation, culinary history and terminology, meat fabrication, nutrition, management, etc.

In the “stocks, sauces and soups” module, for instance, Culinary Instructor Chris Burgess provides students with a thorough knowledge for making the “mother sauces,” which include hollandaise, demi glaze and veloute. In other modules “we go from how to bake biscuits to breaking down live lobster and learning knife skills. In about a week from now, we’ll be working with 40-pound squids,” he says. “We usually have between 20 to 30 students enrolled in any given module.”

According to Donna Namdar, professor and instructional leader for Continuing Education Family and Consumer Sciences, “When the students graduate, they have a solid base of culinary knowledge and practical skills that can be used to seek immediate employment. We have so many success stories,” she remarks.

Former student Darrin Weaver of Poway is among them. After completing the entire Continuing Education culinary program and fulfilling an internship at the Hyatt Regency downtown, he found work as a chef’s assistant for Aramark Inc., then later as a line chef at Valley View Casino in Valley Center where he now works.

“The certificates I earned from each module definitely helped get my foot in the door,” says Weaver, who recalls researching other culinary schools that were unaffordable. “Some of the local schools cost almost $8,000 a month. And another one that I looked in to in Michigan was $13,000 a year for a two-year program!”

Namdar adds that some students use their acquired skills and knowledge to continue studying culinary arts at other colleges, where they can pursue associate or bachelors degrees. Others opt to take only specific modules to beef up their skills in certain areas. Transferring applicable credits, however, remains on the drawing board. “We’re in the process of articulating our institution with other educational programs offered at the colleges.”

Additionally, a new 3,000-square-foot “culinary room” in Point Loma will supplant the program’s existing location in about one year. The site is still in the planning stages, but is slated to include a much larger industrial-type kitchen.

“The job outlook for food service and culinary arts indicates there is a need for trained employees in this field,” Namdar concludes. “Our students become exposed to the industry and receive a very strong base of culinary knowledge. They are prepared for the workplace after completing this program.”

San Diego Continuing Education is part of the San Diego Community College District, which includes San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College and San Diego Miramar College.

For more information about the Continuing Education culinary arts program, or to receive a 2005 program schedule, call (619) 221-6973, or visit this article online at www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to their website.