Arab Educational Information Network

Historically culinary arts education was considered a vocational discipline without an academic base. Culinary arts education is used to have a narrow focus that forewent its richness and ignored its infiltration into economic, political, and cultural aspects within society. Recently the world witnessed an evolution in this field of study as it reached tertiary educational institutions. However, in Egypt, culinary arts studies are integrated into hospitality education and are still confined to a shallow concept. This study aims to explore the perception of the culinary arts community in Egypt on their higher education programs from a sociocultural perspective. It also explores the possible new concepts, frameworks, and core competencies that could improve culinary arts higher education curricula in Egypt. The study uses a qualitative research methodology based on a case study strategy for inquiry. Data were collected via focus group discussions based on semi-structured open-ended questions, and individual interviews. Data analysis relied on a combination of deductive and inductive approaches to classify the results under five main themes. The findings confirm the literature review on many points like the social connotation of food as well as the divided perception of the culinary arts’ higher education in Egypt between the traditional mind-set that considers it a vocational field and the emerging experts who see the potential of this field as an academic discipline based on scientific knowledge. Also, the gap in Egyptian higher education in culinary arts is confirmed, where the field is addressed from a narrow perspective that does not equip the student with the necessary skills and competencies. The participants in the study called for an education that promotes creativity and innovation. As a result, the study proposes a multidisciplinary curriculum framework for culinary arts higher education to serve as a guiding reference for the future development of this discipline. (Published abstract)