Since attending culinary school, I'm not inclined to put a lot of stock in formal culinary education. I consider it a challenge but the reality is, it could never teach a person ‘talent’. Those with the gift and passion of cooking may actually end up stifled by the formal learning environment-their talents would be better groomed out in the working world. I would say schooling made me `proficient’ in the sense that I can make nice meals in the comfort of my kitchen but just about anyone can figure that out. For me, real talent is proven working a line in a top restaurant with a full dining room. I once asked a very accomplished chef at the Four Seasons if he had gone to school. He was from Italy and he gave me a truly Italian response, "No I didn’t go to school, cooking is who you are, something I shared with my mother, a way of life, not something to go to school for." It took me a long time to understand this response. I now believe that if there were any message an accomplished chef could give an educated hobbyist like me, it would be a message of food's connection to our everyday way of life.