The Christian Culinary Academy is not by any means a Bible college or seminary. The vision God gave for the school back in 1998 was for a culinary school to train believers to enter the industry with confidence, to be ministers in the ministry God has called them into, not martyrs of that industry. In our culinary classes, we teach the foundations of cooking used in every kitchen around the world.

That being, we are very much interdenominational and not associated with any denomination. We do have our Statement of Faith to lay down some of the foundations of Christianity (Jesus is God, etc.), but we do not teach on denominational doctrine such as Calvinism vs. Armenianism, proper methods of baptism, or anything like that. Rather in our Bible studies and conversation, we teach practical life lessons on how to live in the Spirit with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22) in an industry not known for those attributes.

The weekly Bible study is a topical study in scripture. The daily devotions on the other hand are quiet devotions. We have some background worship music on and students are welcome to read, pray, draw, or whatever they would like to do during the time we have set aside to devote ourselves to God. Then at the end of our time of devotions, we go around the room and anybody who would like to share a word God put on their heart is welcome to share that with the class.

No, we teach the foundations of cooking similar to what you would find in all good culinary schools. Students who have graduated have taken a wide variety of career paths. We have graduates working in facilities specializing in fine dining, casual dining, catering, conference centers, corporate dining, bakeries, missions, and more.

The same ministry as CCA is Christian Chefs International (CCI). CCI is a network of about 2,000 Christian cooks and chefs from all over the world. Our students and graduates have access to this network and have never had a problem finding a job. Although we cannot legally guarantee placement, it would be very hard for a graduate not to find employment if they are looking. Many employers we are connected with offer competitive salaries in addition to staff housing.

Our 1-year certificate in culinary arts has longer hours of the day than the industry standard. Associates Degree programs are required to have additional university level English, math, and other courses to be degree granting, which don't always pertain directly to the culinary industry. In addition to the classroom and classroom kitchen hours in our program, students also get experience in a rotating number of different styles of local restaurants every week in our Mini Internships. This being, our 1-year culinary arts certificate provides you a similar amount of information as most 2-year degree granting schools.

What would be a more effective way of testing how to make a hollandaise sauce - have a student take a written test on exact timing, measurements, and procedures on how to make it? Or to just have the student make the sauce?

Obviously it would be easier for the student, and a better demonstration to the instructor that the student has learned this competency by simply making the sauce. All of our tests are designed to assess the student's practical knowledge of each subject. 90% of the tests are hands-on in the kitchen. Other tests, such as in the Culinary Math segment, after plenty of training, are written, but focused on the competency of being able to convert a recipe to a different size and find the cost per portion.

The Oregon Department of Education is one of the most stringent licensing states for career colleges. Although this was a very time-consuming project, it helps to show other schools and employers that we are a legitimate career college meeting all the requirements to train our students to enter the culinary field with confidence.

Yes, the Christian Culinary Academy is authorized under Federal law to enroll nonimmigrant alien students. Please Contact Us for more information how to apply for a M-1 Student Visa.

We are able to utilize the best ingredients to best teach the students all the information pertinent to enter the food-service industry with confidence. There are a few ways we are able to keep the tuition as low as we do.

• The facility we rent from is busiest in the summer, therefore gives us a very good discount to offer our classes through the fall and spring.
• Many of our instructors and guest instructors donate part or all of their time, as teaching the next generation of culinarians is a passion, not just a job.
• We are a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization, therefore we are not here with a motivation to put more money in shareholders pockets. Instead we work off a break-even budget to be able to offer this program to everybody God would call into it, not just those with big pockets.

There are multiple ways that God has opened the door for students in the past. To name a few...

• Pray: Seriously, God loves blessing His children and if it is His will for you to attend, the doors will open. He doesn't want you to be lazy about it and sit there hoping for a blank check in the mail either.
• Family and Friends: Write a letter of support to your family and friends. Share with them what you want to do, how God has given you a vision, and what the need is. With our monthly payment plans, you might have 10 family who would be willing to help support a tenth of your monthly payment.
• Church Family: Once again, share your vision and what God is calling you into. Make it into a fundraiser banquet, cooking a meal prior to attending school raising funds to attend, then promise all the donors that you will cook another meal after you graduate to demonstrate all that you learned thanks to their generosity.
• CCA Scholarship: Through the year we have numerous catering events, and the profits of these go to our Student Scholarship Fund. Being a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization, we receive tax-deductible donations to the fund at other times too. Although it is not a huge fund, every little bit helps.
• Other Scholarships: There are scholarships for many topics, including organizations you may be a member of, ethnicity scholarships, scholarships for students of your hometown community, Christian leadership scholarships, and even denominational and other faith based scholarships.
• Loans: Although students do not qualify for federally subsidized loans, CCA is a licensed career college through the Oregon Board of Education. Therefore you do qualify for some bank and private loan programs.
• Work study: Since you're interested in culinary arts as a career, why not find a job that you can work to save up some money from. Specifically, the Cannon Beach Conference Center (the facility that CCA rents facilities from) has specified that they would love to hire any students over the summer who have enrolled for classes in the Fall.

Being a 1-year career college rather than a degree granting college, students do not qualify for FAFSA funds. Even so, our tuition is significantly lower than the current industry standard for culinary schools, therefore students generally have less out of pocket here compared to schools accepting FAFSA. Even though students don't qualify for FAFSA funds, they do qualify for other student grants and loans.

This school is for anybody God is calling into the food-service industry, whether somebody fresh out of high-school or a 50 year old career changer.

We do have a minimum age of 18 years old. Even so, if you are a mature 17 year old we have the ability to make an exception.

We have one entry date per year in early October. For the foreseeable future we will only have the one entry date so that classes are offered fall through spring, allowing our students to go on their internships during the busy summer season.

Some culinary schools have this pre-requisite, and some other culinary schools do not. The difference in statistics between the two categories is that the schools without the pre-requisite have twice the dropout rate of those with it. The reason for this is because just because a potential student loves food, does not necessarily mean that they are going to flourish in the industry. Getting a bit of experience in the industry before going to school helps to assure a student that they know what they are getting into.

There are many ways to go about this. You can work at a conference center for a summer. You can volunteer a day or two a week at a nearby restaurant. You can apply to work at a restaurant. If you are having a hard time with that, feel free to Contact Us and through the Christian Chefs International network of about 2,000 Christian cooks and chefs, we can put you in touch with somebody nearby you that you can get in the kitchen with.

This is an industry which requires a great deal of one-on-one attention to assure every student knows the information being taught, therefore our current maximum class size is limited to 12 students.

CCA shares the same campus as the Cannon Beach Conference Center and Ecola Bible College (all separate organizations). We have our own school kitchen and classroom facilities that are not shared with the other groups, but having the shared campus allows for larger campus amenities such as a full gym, game-room, indoor running track, indoor mini-golf, campus coffee-shop, and more. Although dorm-halls are shared between the colleges, your room-mates will only be other culinary students. Between the three groups there are about 150-200 people residing on-campus.

Yes! We understand that some people have severe allergic reactions to different food products if you are able to be in the room with them. For extreme cases, please note that we do not have an allergen free kitchen, so if are unable to accommodate for example a severe celiac that cannot be in the same kitchen as a molecule of wheat. Anything short of that, we would not require somebody with allergies or a major aversion to pork to eat those items. Even so, the culinary industry will expect all our graduates to proficiently bake bread, braise meat, and know the flavor profiles even of items you do not eat yourself. Therefore even if you are allergic to eating wheat, you will still be required to bake bread, and even though you may not eat meat, you will need to cook and know how to properly season meat dishes.

Down the road when you are a head chef, or even own your own restaurant, there will be a wine list, and a server asking for advice on what wine to pair with your masterpiece of a dish. If they paired a Riesling with a robust rack of lamb, the guests are not going to be happy about it. One aspect of the culinary industry is not necessarily to be a master sommelier, but to be a chef you do need to know some of the basics of wines and pairing wine with food. Even so, we are not going to ask a recovering alcoholic, or somebody who it's against their religious beliefs (or desire) to taste wine. If a student does not wish to taste wine, they are welcome to smell and not taste, or taste and spit even. Students would still be required to learn the information though.

Oregon's Liquor Control Commission allows the tasting (a very small designated amount) for students 18-20 years old in an applicable college environment, in which we qualify for. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed out of the class, and are not permitted in the dormitories. In addition, the portions we use for teaching are very small - never "too much".

Some students have found that having a car is convenient to them, but being that CCA is right downtown in Cannon Beach Oregon, classes, mini-internship sites, beach, shopping, coffee shops, hiking trails, dining, and more are only a short walk. There is an affordable bus that can take you to larger nearby towns too.

To fit all the information we need to in our 1-year program, the class hours, mini internships, and homework involved with studying here takes allot of time, therefore although we do allow it, working a side job is discouraged. If you do get a side job, it is still required that you attend all scheduled classes, field trips, and special events.

As is the policy with most culinary schools and many employers in the culinary field, beards are not allowed. Moustaches are, but must be neatly trimmed and may not extend below the corner of the lip.

If you are interested in joining us at CCA, please Contact Us and we would be happy to get you in touch with one of our graduates.

You are welcome to Contact Us anytime with your questions, catalog requests, or just to say "hi". Our published catalog has more information than our website, which we would be happy to e-mail or land-mail to you as well.

Thank you for your interest. Please connect with us through the Request Information Form and we would be happy to send you our Application for Enrollment and answer any other questions you might have.