Institut Culinaire de France relies on a unique educational approach, through cross-disciplinary teaching that aims at a double expertise, entrepreneurial and culinary.
To support this approach, the academic board is made up of recognised experts in the field of the confectionary arts. Culinary entrepreneurs or renowned chefs, the members of the board, like Institut Culinaire de France's chefs, have both field experience and educational skills. Accustomed to international teaching, in universities or on other campuses, they develop innovative modules to prepare for the reality of a changing world.
Our ambition, with Institut Culinaire de France's academic board, is to prepare our students for the evolution of our profession. Expectations are changing, pastry-making is transforming and the Chefs of tomorrow must be ready to adapt to this new way of addressing demand.
The members of the Academic Board
Focus on the pastry of tomorrow
Institut Culinaire de France's teachings will be guided by 4 main themes of the pastry of tomorrow.
The reasoned pastry, gluttony and balance finally reconciled
In pastry-making, eggs, sugar and fat have always been considered as the necessary ingredients for a recipe for pleasure. However, in recent years, we have seen the emergence of a reflection on a more reasoned pastry.
Today, wellbeing and health are invited into the delicacy to reconcile these often opposed notions. If the trend is towards de-sugaring and lightening, how can we arouse the same emotion without compromising on texture or flavour?
Responsible pastry, combining pleasure and sustainability
Behind an activity as innocuous as pastry-making lies a whole series of choices that impact our environment and therefore our quality of life. From the choice of raw materials to the consumption of energy, the pastry shop of tomorrow must commit itself to a role that preserves the environmental and social balance.
It is necessary today to pass on this awareness to future culinary entrepreneurs. Tomorrow's chefs must join a responsible movement that integrates an ecological dimension, without forgetting that of pleasure.
Paying attention to sourcing, sustainable agriculture, the carbon impact generated by the choices made in the kitchen or the methods used by suppliers, are all reflexes to have in order to get closer to responsible pastry-making.
Vegan pastry, a new continent to explore
The keystone of pastry-making, animal ingredients add flavour and bind textures together. Eggs, butter, milk... they are present in almost all recipes.
However, consumers are now looking for plant-based alternatives to meet their quest for a healthier diet. The pastry industry can support this trend by rethinking its recipes to adapt them to these new expectations.
Boutique pastry and restaurant desserts, the friendly brothers
Considered antagonistic, boutique pastry and restaurant desserts are coming together to offer new horizons for tomorrow's pastry.
Since the two specialities do not meet the same challenges, they can mutually enrich each other. While boutique pastry must be practical, easy to transport and store, restaurant desserts can free themselves from these constraints to respond to a flow logic offering an immediate capacity for interactivity.
By offering a cross-view between boutique and restaurant, future culinary entrepreneurs can thus take advantage of each expertise to invent new tasting experiences.
The areas of work defined with the board therefore prepare today's apprentices for the pastry-making of tomorrow, whether it be sustainable, responsible, vegan or technically innovative. Our profession has a role to play as an actor in the transition and pastry-making must be in phase with current issues, while preserving its essence of taste and delicacy. These are real creative opportunities that need to be considered as an in-depth reflection, to prepare professionals for this change that seems obvious.