Today, as I was thinking about what I would do with the knowledge I'd acquired here at LCB Ottawa after I graduate, I began to reflect on the purpose of my education in the culinary arts.
I remember a point in my previous career when I suddenly realised the main purpose(s) of education, and my own role in it. To me, the purposes of education can be plotted on a continuum: from the conservation of knowledge to the extension of knowledge.
When this notion is applied to my own learning experiences at LCB Ottawa, I can see that the techniques taught in Basic Pastry were meant to conserve knowledge that has been distilled from years of experience (why "reinvent the wheel" when there is no need to do so, right?). Tried and true methods are taught, so that we have a base to work from. But as we move into Superior Pastry, the purpose of the course is to get us to extend knowledge, to push our creativity further, to get us to question how far we can take a technique, to ask what else is possible, and so on. And that is the challenging part for me.
I can see I have a particular preference for certain plating designs, but they are starting to get a bit boring. As Chef CF says, we need to push a little harder, and try more ideas.
Some days I have no answers/inspiration at all; other days I have a lot of good ideas that I'd like to try out in my 5-hour practical classes (which we call "workshops" now). Whether I pull them off or not is another matter. But I find days like today (when I don't have any classes) to be good days for brainstorming, researching and reading -- thinking about ways I would plate my desserts, and researching ways to achieve certain effects.
That's the joy of being a student with time to contemplate the techniques taught at School. I am grateful for the mental and psychological space to reflect on my own development as a pastry student.
Right now, I am intrigued by the idea of Golden Ratio in Aesthetics (phi), something Chef CF mentioned briefly in a lecture last term. I would love to understand it fully and have it applied to plating designs and cake decorations. Hmmm...
