50 Years of Culinary Excellence: Celebrating ICE’s Anniversary

Who would think that one of the world’s top culinary schools was founded in an Upper West Side apartment? 

Originally known as Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School, the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) has played a pivotal role in shaping the food landscape for 50 years growing from just five students in the first year to now more than 19,000 graduates. 

Kump’s vision was to teach fundamental cooking techniques at a time when other schools focused on recipes. Also the founder of the James Beard Foundatio, Kump frequently brought acclaimed chefs, such as Julia Child, to the school.

In 1995, ICE Chairman and CEO Rick Smilow acquired the school and expanded its offerings, adding new courses of study, creating specially-designed facilities, expanding geographically and regularly updating the curriculum to reflect the ever-evolving culinary industry.

ICE will host special programming throughout the year at its two campuses in New York City and Los Angeles that honors its rich legacy, celebrates the achievements of its distinguished alumni, and reinforces its commitment to excellence in culinary education. These events will include industry celebrations, cooking demonstrations and panel discussions.The school will recognize 50 distinguished alumni honorees, who represent the diversity of ICE’s programs and exemplify the success that can be achieved with an ICE education. 

The school will also offer five scholarships, each honoring a decade of the school’s history. These scholarships, each worth up to $25,000 in value, will provide financial assistance to select students, empowering them to pursue their culinary dreams and make a lasting impact on the industry. 

“Reaching ICE’s 50th anniversary, and my 30th as principal owner, is a testament to the passion and dedication of our students, faculty, staff and alumni who continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible,” said Smilow. “Our mission has always been to provide focused and sophisticated training that helps students find their culinary voice—their way of expressing their identity, taste and imagination through food—and prepares them for successful, long-term careers in the industry. I’m confident that the last five decades have been incredibly rewarding for many of the people who have been part of ICE’s journey. And for me, to work for 30 years as an entrepreneur, building an institution dedicated to helping students find their culinary voices; it has been an unexpected, rewarding and joyous career.”

To learn more about the ICE's past, present and future, Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine reached out to  Smilow.

In what ways has culinary education evolved, yet kept true to the fundamentals?

The description of culinary education staying true to fundamentals and evolving is accurate! The techniques and methodology of professional cooking have essentially remained the same. It is a body of knowledge and series of skillsets that have always been, and will always be, the starting point in our curriculum. Many of these lessons were codified by the French. 

The idea of evolution comes in two main ways. First, via the broadening range of flavors, ingredients and recipes – representing food culture from around the world – that is in our curriculum. If you looked at ICE's curriculum 25 years ago, it was clearly more French, with heavier food and richer sauces and that is no longer the case. The other main aspect of evolution has been in specialized techniques and equipment like sous vide cooking, fermentation, and the use of induction burners and combo ovens.

How have students changed over the years, particularly as the culture has shifted to be more food-centric?

There have been small changes and shifts, and, over my 30 years, these changes seem to come and goes in waves. The biggest change came in the 90's when food on TV, and in particular the birth of the Food Network, put food and sophisticated cooking in the mass media spotlight.

ICE has always believed and promoted the idea that there are many ways to use and apply the foundational culinary education that we offer.

During the late 90's and early 2000's, there was a big influx of "career changers" from the white collar world to the culinary world.  That is still part of the student mix at ICE today too.

Overall, the biggest change between my start 30 years ago and today is the current high percentage of women in our programs.

What role has ICE played in culinary careers being seen as viable pursuits?

ICE has always believed and promoted the idea that there are many ways to use and apply the foundational culinary education that we offer.  In a sense, it's captured in our tagline "find your culinary voice." While pursuing a career in restaurants is the most popular direction, for other people, it could a career path in catering, private chef work, R&D cooking, food media or moving to the management side of a food operation. 

I've always found it fascinating, and good, that our students really have a broad range of ways to "define success." For some, it means becoming a Michelin-starred chef, while for others, it might mean expanding their family-owned pizzeria into a small restaurant.  

Topics such as sustainability and induction cooking are top of mind in the industry—how does ICE respond to offer education to meet the needs of future chefs?

As for induction cooking, that's an easy answer. When we built our new NYC facility in 2015, we knew induction would be a growing technology, so we designed our Culinary Arts kitchens with that in mind. These kitchens are comprised with roughly 10 percent induction cooktops, with the remaining balance as gas.  It's notable these days that when you travel to other countries and continents, induction cooking is so prominent. 

Sustainability is a broad term and concept, and at ICE, we focus on some aspects of the concept. For example, I know it's common for our chef-instructors to stress ways to use all parts of the plants, meat or seafood used in cooking.  They encourage students to find a use for the leftover bits, versus putting them in the garbage. We look to students to be part of our weekly fermentation sessions where products can be transformed into something tangible.

One of the newer diploma programs at ICE is in Plant Based Culinary Arts. In this program there is a lot of attention paid to sustainability, including the ethos that what you choose to cook, serve and eat, can have an impact on the environment and planet.  

Looking ahead, what excites you about the future of culinary education and what do you imagine the next 50 years will bring?

There are a number of things that come to mind. First, the percentage of women in culinary school, and more importantly, the percentage of women in leadership roles in kitchens will continue to grow.

Next, we believe that the quality and learning results from online culinary education will increase. At ICE we have launched online diploma programs and at present, keep finding practical and tangible ways to improve the educational experience.  

Lastly, culinary education and culinary arts can be a key component to a healthy lifestyle. We’ve started working toward this with our Plant-Based Culinary Arts program and other nutrition-related programming. It a simple notion that talented, thoughtful chefs can make food that is tasty and healthy. If more Americans ate this way, there could be less diet-related disease.