Anyone who wants to train as a chef in Germany will also learn how to process and prepare meat, fish and other animal products. This is stipulated by the Federal Institute of Vocational Training.

“There is no legal possibility to adapt training so that vegans can avoid working with meat products,” confirms Sandra Warden, CEO of the federal association Dehoga.

The desire for more vegetarian and vegan cuisine has not only reached diners, but also kitchens. Matthias Bieler, for example, already in 2019 had completely different wishes for the apprentices of the future. With a petition under the motto “Train vegetarian/vegan chefs – now!”, the vegetarian chef from Hamburg started training to become a vegan or vegetarian chef or at least redesign the curriculum so that more dishes made with ingredients are produced. no animals.

“Animal products are still part of the curriculum”

With the update of the training standards in 2022, the training contents have been opened in this direction, but animal products remain part of the curriculum. “We will not modernize culinary training until 2022. “I don't see that there is any focus among vocational training professionals to change culinary training in this direction,” says Sandra Warden of Dehoga. By not preparing animal products, the students lacked basic skills, she says. “Initial training serves to obtain a broad basic qualification. This is not possible only with an exclusively plant-based cuisine and contradicts the German idea of ​​professionalism.”

Although students cannot avoid preparing animal products, they can at least complement their training with additional qualifications. “There has been a wide offer in this area for a long time,” explains the general director of the federal association Dehoga. “In the training, more time and more content is dedicated to vegetable cooking. There is also a new additional qualification in vegetarian and vegan cooking, which you can complete throughout the country in addition to your training without extending the training period.”

If you are interested, in addition to these additional qualifications, the classes at the vocational school are also dedicated to vegetarian or vegan alternatives, as Carola Hennig, technical teacher of the hotel and restaurant team at the Hoppenlau business school of the Stuttgart Technical Institute, explains. . “We are studying, for example, how to replace the binding capacity of eggs with non-animal foods such as flax seeds. “We are open in this direction, but vegetarian and vegan cuisine is still a relatively small area of ​​training.”

“We just modernized culinary training in 2022”

But the fact is that, according to a Forsa survey by the German Federal Food Trade Association (BVLH), around nine percent of Germans follow a meat-free diet and three percent completely avoid animal products, including aspiring chefs. Do these people still master culinary training? And if so, how?

Many aspiring chefs make compromises in their training. “We had a young trainee who was on a vegan diet,” says Hennig. “But he accepted that he had to work with animal products and, for example, wore gloves so as not to have to touch the meat and fish during preparation.”

The problem, however, is that these students cannot try their own dishes. “It's not so tragic in class or in the company, classmates just prove it. “But in an exam it is difficult,” said the teacher. Here the examinees would have to rely on their sensitivity.

Vegan and vegetarian chefs cannot taste their own dishes

For other Stuttgart residents, a state-recognized culinary training as a vegan is out of the question. This is not the case with Katharina Bretsch. Since 2015, this man who has changed his career has run the vegan restaurant Super Jami Kitchen in the Heusteigviertel in Stuttgart. “I thought about taking the exam because I already had enough professional experience,” says the trained graphic designer. “However, the training regulations do not even allow a vegetarian test and sometimes the animals have to be deboned or the fish scaled and chopped, and that is beyond my capabilities.”

Restaurateur and owner of the zero-waste vegan restaurant Heaven's Kitchen on Theodor-Heuss-Straße, Tanja Goldstein, experiences this problem firsthand. She and her team would like to train aspiring chefs, but this is not possible due to training regulations. “The only option currently available is to 'share' an apprentice with a meat processing company,” says Ella Goldstein. “For someone who has actually decided to be vegan for ethical reasons, this is a real problem.”

According to the restaurateur, it is justified that the training is linked to a trade whose essential component is meat processing. “But things have changed now. “Everyone knows that something has to be done in this regard, but there is still no starting point.”

That's why it's difficult to find people who follow a vegan diet and still complete state-recognized training. Arsenio Horvat is one of the few. He wants to start training him as a chef soon. At the same time, this 18-year-old from Stuttgart who works at Heaven's Kitchen has been vegan for two and a half years.

Horvat greatly values ​​working at the vegan restaurant, but has also had negative experiences elsewhere. “I developed a passion for cooking from a very early age and began working in the restaurant industry at a young age, including in restaurants that use animal products,” she says. “Back then I was still a vegetarian, but I still thought it was bad. I was disgusted by sinks full of blood and pieces of meat. “Vegan cooking is much more hygienic.”

For Arsenio Horvat, trying is a failure

A reason for the future apprentice not to eat the animal products with which he works. “At that time he was still quite alone in the industry. Since it was a burger joint and mainly worked with ready-made burgers, trying them was not a problem.”

Before starting at Heaven's Kitchen, Horvat attended a home economics vocational school. “There I refused or tried to try as few animal products as possible,” says the 18-year-old, who also accepted discounts on his school grades for it. “I said, if it tastes good even if you haven't tried it, there's no reason you shouldn't try it.”

This attitude usually offends young people. But Horvath remains adamant. “It was important to me to make a statement by being there,” he says. However, he eventually drops out of school. He eventually meets the vegan restaurant Heaven's Kitchen through his girlfriend and begins working as an employee. “For me, working there is a bit of recognition because I see that it can be done without animal products.”

“To me, much of the training content doesn't make sense”

Next year, despite all the challenges, Horvath wants to start state-recognized training to become a chef at a company that produces animal products. “Sometimes I have doubts that mentally I can't handle the work and that's why I'll give up training,” he says. the 18 year old young man. “I don't want to serve dead animals to anyone and I don't really want to be part of the preparation. But to make my dreams come true, I have to do this. I think it's a real shame.”

Horvat would like to see a reform in the field of training, because as a vegan, usually after training you want to work in a vegan kitchen, he says. “To me, a lot of the training content is meaningless, because if I don't use meat when I cook later, I don't have to learn how to prepare it,” he says. The problem is that the current training is not taking me to where I want to be.”

Vegan cuisine against climate change

For this 18-year-old, vegan cooking means much more than cooking without fish, meat or dairy. “I'm very frustrated with this topic and sometimes I don't even know where to start,” Horvat says. “I think it's a shame that so much is always expected of my generation, but our efforts to improve something, for example on climate change, are often not seen or appreciated and we are not left any room for change.”

If there was a chance to train to be a vegan chef, Horvat is sure some people would do it. Until then, he will continue fighting for change and also wants to set an example with his presence as a vegan in training.

Professional training approved by the State to be a chef

Chefs are trained in restaurants and hotels, but also in canteens or catering companies. A specific school leaving certificate is not required for training, but some companies require an intermediate educational level. The training is planned to last three years, but in special circumstances it may be shortened.

Students complete their training to become chefs in a dual system, alternating work in the company and in the vocational school. Students learn how different meats and fish are processed and prepared, as well as soups, sauces and stews.

A total of two exams are planned during the course of the training. The first is the intermediate exam, which is taken after about a year (usually) in vocational school. At the end of the three years of training, the final exam is taken, which is divided into theory and practice and is carried out before examiners from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK).

By Nina Scheffel

The original of this article “Vegetarians have problems with meat in their culinary training” comes from the STUTTGARTER ZEITUNG.