Wine Information
Wine tasting in culinary school for non-alchohol drinkers?
Hello. I am considering going to culinary school but I was told by someone who used to attend it that you have to taste wine. I don't drink alchohol because of my religion & my health. Can anyone offer me some advice? Is wine tasting a requirement for studying culinary arts? Thanks.
Public Comments
- I doubt they would force you (You have a valid reason). I'm sure they would give you some sort of alternative assignment
- You may have to taste wine, but the purpose of a wine tasting is not to get drunk. A real wine tasting should have a spit bucket so that you can spit the wine out after you have swirled it around in your mouth and tasted it. the purpose is to be able to identify certain flavors in the wine and how it sits on different parts of your palette. A good chef will know how to pair wine with food, that is why they will have you taste wines when you go to culinary school.
- It would be discriminatory for them to punish you for not tasting wine. I'm sure plenty of chefs do not drink, so I wouldn't worry about it.
- I understand that wine tasting can be done by taking the wine into your mouth, swirling it on your tongue and spitting it back out. Would that be acceptable to you?
- um.. is a requirement to studying the arts?? Ehh.. that's a difficult question. It kind of depends on how gourmet or complicated you want to study. Alcohol is a very important in some of the really gourmet savory and sweet dishes. But, maybe you can ask your instructor if instead of tasting the wine, you can do research on each type they taste, like the flavors, what type of fruit or vegetable it ferments from, etc.
