An entire computer-based “textbook” for culinary arts can now to be offered to students and schools, according to the publisher. 

“The Sous Chef™ is now available as part of a student purchase program,” announced Jim Murray, Director of Sales and Marketing for KP Educational Systems. “Schools may assign the Sous Chef™ with each student purchasing a personal copy to run on their own laptop computer.”

The Sous Chef™ is a complete multimedia culinary arts instructional program based on Computer-DVD technology. It was first introduced in 2001 and is used across North America in high schools, colleges and adult education programs.

“The Sous Chef™ is normally purchased by schools and installed in computer labs and classrooms,” said Murray. “Some culinary colleges, however, have requested a pricing structure where each student purchases his or her own copy of the program in place of textbooks.”

The Student Purchase Edition is being offered in response to the request of some schools where laptops are already part of the required educational supplies. “Many of these schools found that their students wanted their own copy of the Sous Chef™,” Murray said. “In addition, most schools that assign the Sous Chef™ qualify for free copies of the entire program for teacher and classroom use.”

The unique advantage of the Sous Chef™ system is its use of high-quality video to teach culinary techniques and principles.

A traditional text uses one or more static photographs to demonstrate a skill like dicing an onion or making an omelet. The Sous Chef™ instead has a master chef/instructor demonstrating the same skill in a voice-over video. Over 250 instructional videos are contained in Version 5 of the Sous Chef™. They cover everything from handwashing and knife skills to cooking techniques and advanced garde manger.

The Sous Chef™ does not consist of just videos, however. The program includes eleven chapters and over 850 “text” pages with words and pictures that can be viewed individually on the computer screen or shown through a projector or monitor to a large group.

Schools that purchase or license the Education Editions of the Sous Chef™ are also permitted to print out the text pages to use as student handouts and study aids. These editions also come with note-taking and lesson planning features.