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The Culinary Institute of America is the world's premier culinary college and is widely known as one of the top training institutes for culinary arts in the United States. Located in Hyde Park in Dutchess County, New York, USA, a few miles north of Poughkeepsie, the school uses the initials CIA for itself and is sometimes humorously called the "CIA on the Hudson."
The school offers two Bachelor of Professional Studies (B.P.S) degrees—one in Culinary Arts Management, the other in Baking and Pastry Arts Management—or an Associate of Occupations Studies (A.O.S) in Culinary Arts or Baking and Pastry Arts. Also, The CIA is recently offering the ACE program (Accellerated Culinary Experience) which caters to people who already have 4 years or more experience in the industry, but wish to obtain an associates degree from the CIA. The ACE program includes the same basic classes as the regular AOS programs, however there is no externship and some classes maybe be presented at a faster pace or include more indepth material.
Admission requires prior food service experience for a minimum of six months, and all programs include an 18 week externship in the industry. Properly credentialed industry professionals may also apply to be tested to be certified as an American Culinary Federation (A.C.F.) master chef.
The school maintains five public restaurants in Hyde Park, New York: American Bounty, Apple Pie Bakery Café, Escoffier Room, Ristorante Caterina de' Medici, and St. Andrew's Café.
In keeping with the possibly tongue-in-cheek initialism for the school, some years ago they also founded a video and book publishing department which they named the Food and Beverage Institute (FBI).
The CIA also maintains a branch campus, the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in the Napa Valley in California.
Two books have been written about the CIA The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman documents his experiences as an "undercover student" as he passes through the classes at an accelerated rate, and The Soul of a Chef also by Ruhlman, documents seven chefs taking the grueling ten day Master Chef test held annually at the CIA, a bistro owner rising to stardom, and Thomas Keller's French Laundry.
The 1995 movie Heavy starring Pruitt Taylor Vince, Shelley Winters, and Liv Tyler features several scenes shot on location at the CIA.
Notable graduates
- Wilo Benet
- Anthony Bourdain
- Anne Burrell
- Michael Chiarello
- Cat Cora
- Rocco DiSpirito
- Sara Moulton
- Michael Smith (Canadian)
- Artie D. Keenan