Trainees attend a practical cooking class at the Wanzhou grilled fish training centre under Artificer College of Wanzhou in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.
Industry-oriented culinary schools dedicated to turning fragmented folk cooking skills and local know-how into standardised, scalable vocational training programs are gaining momentum across China.
In recent years, the commercialisation of regional specialty cuisines has driven the growth of specialised culinary schools.
This year alone, the country has seen the establishment of a number of such schools, which have quickly gained popularity, covering regional delicacies including shaomai (a type of steamed dumpling), skewers, laziji (spicy chicken) and sour soup.
Providing both vocational education and short-term skills training, these schools cater to the needs of different groups of people, highlighting a broader trend of formalizing once-informal food traditions into structured training pipelines that feed directly into employment and industry.
