Think you know The Culinary Institute of America? Well, there are some surprising facts about the CIA that many don’t know about! There’s way more here than what meets the eye. Check these fun facts out, and come visit campus to experience the CIA for yourself!
- The CIA was originally called the New Haven Restaurant Institute, and it had only three faculty members: one chef, one baker, and one dietitian.
- Roth Hall, the CIA’s main building on the Hyde Park, NY campus, was home to a Jesuit novitiate before the college moved here from New Haven, CT .
- Yearly, the CIA storeroom goes through about 14,500 pounds of avocados, 30,000 chickens, and 5,000 pineapples, and it carries 37 different types of flour.
- The CIA has more than 50,000 alumni.
- The famous Food Network show Dinner: Impossible filmed an episode in the CIA’s Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici in 2008.
- Chef toques traditionally have 101 pleats, which are said to symbolize the 101 ways a chef can cook an egg.
- Old Diamondsides, a sculpture on campus made by artist John F. Sendelbach, was created using more than 1,700 salvaged forks, spoons, and knives.
- The Gastrotypographicalassemblage, which celebrates food and typography, was originally created in 1964 and installed in the CBS building in New York City before being saved, restored, and reinstalled in the CIA’s Marriott Pavilion.
- Famous philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is buried in the Jesuit cemetery on campus.
- Most of the vegetables, fruits, eggs, meat, and dairy served in the American Bounty Restaurant are sourced from 60 local Hudson Valley farms located within 75 miles of the CIA campus.
- Farquharson Hall, which was formerly the Jesuits’ chapel, was renovated by the same company that redesigned Grand Central Station and Radio City Music Hall. It is now a student dining hall.
By Majestic Lewis-Bryant, student contributor | La Papillote