The precursor to the Culinary Institute of America opened its oven doors 78 years ago
You are served a beautiful meal. If you are like many people, the first thing you grab is not your fork or spoon. It’s your phone, to take a photo and post it on your Instagram or TikTok. So-called “food porn” dominates social media feeds, more than cute kittens or tropical sunsets or, well, real porn. And the reason for that is, in large part, because of the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, which popped out of the proverbial oven 78 years ago.
On May 22, 1946, the New Haven Restaurant Institute opened as the first and only school of its kind in the United States. At the time, New Haven faced a shortage of cooks because of World War II, and the city’s restaurant association wanted a school to train returning veterans in the culinary arts. It turned to a woman who had never worked in a restaurant.
