Come next week, the School of Culinary Arts and Hotel Management will be hosting French culinary students for two weeks of cooking, dining and touring here in Santa Barbara.

In January, City College sent some of our own culinary students to study in France, and now it is our turn to repay the favor. We will be playing host to ten French culinary students who will be attending classes on campus for two weeks.

This is the third consecutive year in a row doing this program. It was created by Randy Bublitz, Director of the Culinary Arts Program and is the only program of its kind in California.

“They will be interacting with the students and taking classes as if they were American students,” Bublitz said.

The students will be staying with host families of students that went in January as well as some faculty members.

While they are here, the students will be attending classes and touring around Santa Barbara. Bublitz expects to show them the local food industry, including Jordano’s Foodservice, the Biltmore Hotel, Berry Man and local restaurants. He said the biggest hits with the students last year were establishments like In-N-Out.

“They thought it was funny and kept wanting mayonnaise,” Bublitz said.

Chinese restaurants like Panda Express are also one of the major hits with the French students, since Chinese food is very expensive in France. Lastly, our French restaurants are also a favorite and have been rated to be “just like the food in France.”

The students hail from a college similar in size to our own and are excited to experience the California life.

“It’s a unique program, it’s the only one of its kind,” Bublitz said. “A very lucky break.”