The School of Artisan Food

The School of Artisan Food
Location
Welbeck Abbey in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire
United Kingdom
Information
Type Not-for-profit
Established 2009
Enrollment 2,000 ~
Website www.schoolofartisanfood.org

The School of Artisan Food (SAF) is an accredited, not-for-profit food skills training school located in Nottinghamshire, UK.[1] The school was founded by Alison Swan Parente as a part of the Welbeck Abbey complex in Sherwood Forest. The school provides both short-term and diploma courses. It was the first artisanal food school to open in the UK.

Founding

In 2007 The Welbeck Project was founded at the Welbeck Abbey in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire. After starting The Welbeck Bakehouse, in 2009 the School of Artisan Food was founded offering classes in baking, butchery, and cheese making.[2] The idea for the school began when Alison Swan Parente found trouble finding a good baker for the Welbeck Bakehouse.[3][4]

SAF was founded by Swan Parente, upon her retirement from her career as a child psychotherapist. The Guardian wrote that the intention was to found “an academy that could help those of us who sit in offices fantasizing about making jam for a living realize our dreams.”[1] She applied to start the school in November 2008, and received permission to proceed two months later. In February 2009 the school’s construction began, and it opened for students that upcoming September.[3]

According to the New York Times, “Mrs. Parente assembled a brain trust of British food stars specializing in fermented foods, which include cheese, beer, bread and charcuterie, among other things, and are a central part of the curriculum.” One of the sources of funding for the school was the East Midlands Development Agency.[5][6] It is working towards providing university credits and courses to its students.[4]

Programs

These classes are offered either over the weekend, or as a part of a one-year or advanced diploma in baking which includes courses on the business of the food industry. This includes lectures from chefs, but also lawyers, accountants, and other related business professionals. In addition to baking, butchery, and cheese making, other focuses at the school include pies and sausage making, jams and chutneys, as well as brewing beers, ales, ciders, ice cream, sourdough baking, foraging, cured meats, and pickles.[2][7][1][8][9][10][5][3]

The school has a high placement rate for its graduates, according to The Telegraph,[11] with The Daily Mail calling SAF the “the culinary Oxbridge”.[3] Students have also opened artisanal businesses of their own in the UK.[12] Many of the students who attend are career professionals in other fields, looking to develop a new skill or alternate career path.[13]

Campus

The Globe and Mail wrote “Tucked within the legendary Sherwood Forest, the 15,000-acre estate focuses on the teaching of age-old craft. In so doing, it has become a hub of artisan knowledge with very few peers.” Enrolment in 2015 is about 2000 students.[14] In early 2011, the campus played host to a royal visit from The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, in their first official visit to Sherwood Forest.[15] Prince Charles said that the school was an “imaginative and long overdue initiative,” preserving “craftsmanship”, as “Food is very much part of the art of life and the art of living.”[16]

Notable faculty

Notable faculty at SAF have included cheesemakers Randolph Hodgson, Joe Schneider, Val Bines, Paul Thomas, and Ivan Larcher; bakers Emmanuel Hadjiandreou, Matthew McCarthy, Andrew Whitley, Wayne Caddy, and Mickael Jahan; butchers Andrew Sharp and Chris Moorby; charcuterie expert Ray Smith; and ice cream instructor Kitty Travers.[3][4][17]

Recognition

In 2013, SAF was named the best country or residential cookery school at the UK Cookery School of the Year Awards.[18] In 2014 the school was awarded the top prize from the British Cookery School Awards.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Emma Sturgess (December 3, 2009). "How to become an artisan baker". The Guardian. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  2. 1 2 John Stanley and Linda Stanley (2014). Food Tourism: A Practical Marketing Guide. CABI. p. 69. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "And for the next course...a diploma in butchery". The Daily Mail. June 18, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Rose Prince (June 10, 2009). "Bread and cheese making: a new artisan school opens in Nottinghamshire". The Telegraph. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Nathalie Jordi (October 13, 2009). "British Artisanal Food Gains New Champions". New York Times. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  6. ↑ John Holmes (February 8, 2011). "Rise of UK's only school of artisan food based in Notts". BBC. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  7. ↑ Carl Wilkinson (September 24, 2010). "Where bankers become butchers". Financial Times. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  8. ↑ Peter Jackson (2013). Food Words: Essays in Culinary Culture. A&C Black. p. 25. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  9. ↑ Ann Mah (October 2, 2011). "In Europe, Cooking Classes for Every Palate". New York Times. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  10. ↑ Chloe Scott (June 26, 2012). "Do me a flavour: Ice cream experts dish the dirt on the best icy delights". Metro. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  11. ↑ Rose Prince (July 19, 2014). "Rose Prince's baking club: carrot and quinoa cake recipe". The Telegraph. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  12. ↑ Jo Davison (November 14, 2012). "Numbers of artisan bakeries on the rise". The Star. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  13. ↑ Charlotte Philby (April 28, 2012). "Gourmet gamble: Could you make it as a food entrepreneur?". The Independent. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  14. 1 2 Shaun Pett (January 28, 2015). "Must-visit: A Downton Abbey fantasy for the 21st-century epicurean". The Globe & Mail. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Welbeck puts on a Royal reception". Worksop Guardian. January 27, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Royal seal of approval". Nottingham Post. January 26, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ "The School of Artisan Food". Independent Cookery Schools. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Cookery school in awards triumph". Nottingham Post. November 7, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2015.

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