The corridors of a hospitality school are always the most happening ones!

Neha Lakhani, Chef Patissier – Co-founder, Troublesome Duo Kitchens Pvt Ltd, Chef Ambassador – Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa and Culinary Director – Constitutional Club of India

There is great value in being able to say ‘yes’ when people ask if there is anything they can do. By letting people pick herbs or a slice bread instead of bringing a salad, you make your kitchen a universe in which you can give completely and ask for help. The more environments with that atmospheric makeup we can find or create, the better.

― Tamar Adler, An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

Hospitality education is a passion-driven endeavour that transcends and oscillates through traditional knowledge and innovation. Hospitality industry can be wrenching and fulfilling at the same time and this essence of the hospitality education brings both the challenges and the opportunities. Hospitality education is market-driven and yet very dynamic. Therefore, students must go beyond the confinement of traditional learning route and learn to innovate. Being a service-oriented sector, hospitality industry thrives on skill sets and innovation and to attain the desirable skill-set, hard work is imperative. We, as stakeholders of the hospitality industry, are in public domain and at the service of people always, and therefore creating a niche-based public image is one of the basic requirements in this industry. And this highlights one of the biggest challenges for a hospitality student: choosing and then excelling in an expert area.

I started my carried by studying in Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, and who knew one day I’d be a chef ambassador for the same. I got a call one day where they asked me if I wanted to teach and I said yes definitely. I was a bit nervous and practiced my demo recipes three times before stepping into the class as I had never taught before – on the other side of the table where you have to teach basics and be verbal and use proper terminology, it had been a while I did that the last time hence I was very nervous. But my first session went just amazing. My inner happiness had no bounds on being on the other side of the table and relating to my students as I was one of them a few years back and relating to the teacher who taught us and the problems they went through. Having the knowledge of both sides was a great help and a factor that has driven me through to do well. It was a happy feeling.

Ever since there has been no looking back from teaching. Connecting with young students just makes me fresh. Their ideology and diversification of creative thinking charges me up. Sometimes it is just the ideal platform to learn from.

The corridors of a hospitality school are always the most happening ones! I often, as a student, hosted a lot of my friends from other study disciplines and they were all in awe of what we learn as a hospitality student. But there is a lot that goes behind the curtains. A simple salad that a student prepares has aesthetics and a culmination of various discipline; for instance: the origin of the dish (history); availability of the raw materials (geography); cooking techniques (chemistry and physics); servings (designing); and of course the wholesome eating experience of the consumer (psychology). In short, you are nothing less than a multi-tasker, ever-hustling, brewing set of skills, idea, and knowledge as a successful hospitality personnel. Well! If you are up for this challenge, the industry has a lot to offer. From glamour, fame, money to experiences, travel, and knowledge, this industry offers it all, if you unleash your true potential.

At Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa we teach multiple programmes of pastry and cuisine, where the student can learn from scratch and become an expert. Of course, professional industrial training is a big step too for gaining the right experience and growing over time. But as a culinary school they impart knowledge in the best way so that the student never forgets his basics. Just the way you learn swimming once and you never forget but practice is a must. We teach up to date techniques, classical French cuisine and the modernist touch too.

To set a bit of perspective straight, hospitality is one of the fastest growing industries in the world today; the World Travel & Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated 8.31 lakh crore (US$120 billion). Well, this can encompass a lot of talent, provided you are ready to put in your time and efforts. Elucidating upon the challenges, one of the core and bugging challenge that I apprehend is that a lot of students struggle to find their place in the industry; my advice – as a sophomore in your hospitality school start developing your expertise so by the time you are graduating, you already are almost an expert in the field. Another challenge that a lot of students face is how to ‘pitch’ themselves. Allow me to serve you the truth ‘raw and fresh’, your institute is just a facilitator and your degree is just an authenticity stamp. You need to be an entrepreneur, an explorer, in fact, also an artist to unleash your true potential. In short, don’t fall into a trap of relying only and only on what your institute offers. Remember! You learn a lot more beyond your hospitality school corridors.

And this is not coming from a place of ‘idealism’, but from experience! What I learned in Le Cordon Bleu is how to develop perspectives towards food.

I am still in a learning phase, from creating a brand name of my own to taking independent projects, I finally see myself on an entrepreneurial journey. And this excites me the most. I can be anything, anywhere, and anyone in this industry. I as Chef Neha Lakhani can be a traveller, a collaborator (Troublesome Duo), or a social media influencer; the hospitality industry offers it all. However, like any other service sector, gender stereotypes can at times mellow down your passion. But the key is to keep your blinders on. This tempts me to share my two-cents regarding my experience, as women, in this industry.

I am a son to my family and no step takes me back for being a girl. I think I make better pastries than a lot of male chefs and for which I’m very proud. I like my independence and my strength of my skill supports it.

Drawing analogy from this famous quote by Mokokoma – “Thanks to photography, some memories overstay their welcome,” hospitality is more about creating mesmerizing experiences for your consumers. More lasting that experience, more successful you would be! We, in this industry, create experiences and then improvise over it. Challenges may be many, but the industry still has a lot to explore, a lot more to innovate, and most important to create. If you are willing to put in a lot of sleepless nights, a bit of brewing passion, and an urge to learn; you are already ‘almost’ there. 

Let me leave you with an excerpt from the famous book ‘Urban Sharman’ that covers the essence of my write-up:

In Ireland, you go to someone’s house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you’re really just fine. She asks if you’re sure. You say of course you’re sure, really, you don’t need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don’t need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn’t mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it’s no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting. 

In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don’t get any damned tea.

I liked the Irish way better.

I really hope I can motivate the young students to live for their dream and work with all their passion and the success will eventually flow in. Never be scared from hard word and long hours, and never say no to learning. The day you feel you know everything, means you’re diverted elsewhere. 

There’s never enough of knowledge just like the sets never enough of cake.