Le Cordon Bleu expands plant-based teaching offering

Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in London has expanded its plant-based teaching offering amid calls for more training for vegan chefs from the industry.

The school launched a general Diploma in Plant-based Culinary Arts in 2019 but decided to introduce two specialised courses in response to the "growing demand for vegan, vegetarian and plant-based restaurants and products".

Those who enrol in the newly launched Diploma in Plant-based Culinary Arts – Cuisine will focus on wholefoods with minimal processing and different nuts, grains and pulses, while those who take on the Diploma in Plant-based Culinary Arts – Pâtisserie will receive training on pastry, bakery, cakes, desserts, petit fours and dairy-free chocolate products.

The expansion in plant-based teaching comes after Alexia Dellaca-Minot, head chef of Studio Gauthier in London's Tottenham Court Road, told The Caterer: "There is not enough training for vegan chefs in my opinion because when you go to school, they teach you how to prep a meat or fish. We had a student who worked with us [in our plant-based kitchen] and we were teaching how to do everything from start to finish but when he was going to school he had to do a cut of lamb."

At Le Taittinger Prix Culinaire competition, which was held at Le Corden Bleu in London's Bloomsbury earlier this year, participating chefs had to cook a vegan soup, to which Michel Roux Jr said: "Restaurants are looking at more and more plant-based foods, so it's very topical."

Students will have access to chef demonstrations, practical sessions, workshops and lectures from chefs such as Venerable Beop Song as part of the institute's partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre UK.

The intakes for Le Cordon Bleu's Cuisine course are in autumn and spring, while those for Pâtisserie are in winter and summer.