Differences between Bakery, Pastry & Culinary Arts. Culinary arts is about preparing main dishes. Chefs and cooks prepare meats, seafood and vegetables for appetizers and main entrees at restaurants, cafeterias, and other venues. Whereas pastry and baking arts is more about desserts. Bakers and pastry chefs create complex presentation desserts, wedding cakes, artisan breads, cupcakes, candies, and more.
The culinary arts is a cooking discipline that generally includes appetizers, side dishes, and main courses. This area focuses on cooking with a variety of vegetables, grains, and proteins (often meat, seafood, and dairy, but they can be plant-based as well).
Baking and pastry arts, on the other hand, concentrate on breads and desserts.Broadly, there are two degree paths for aspiring cooks:
culinary arts or
baking and
pastry arts.
Culinary arts is about preparing main dishes. Chefs and cooks prepare meats, seafood and vegetables for appetizers and main entrees at restaurants, cafeterias, and other venues.
Pastry and
baking arts is more about breads and desserts.In a school setting,
culinary arts trains you on things like meal prep, cooking techniques, kitchen etiquette, proper training on the equipment and teamwork. The recipe is secondary.
Baking and
pastry school, on the other hand, is more about precise measurements, attention to detail and the individual’s artistry.The difference is generally attributed to the way the two arts are approached. In
culinary arts, the recipes can often be open to interpretation and tweaks made on the fly—a little extra salt, a slightly longer cooking time. In
baking and
pastry, each recipe is a scientific formula that must be followed to the letter.,There is much confusion about the terms culinary, pastry, and baking: For some
