Abstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions and opinions of culinary art high school and undergraduate students on the curriculum for Korean culinary arts education. The results of the research were as follows. High school students were found to be more satisfied regarding their culinary arts curriculum than college and university students (p<0.001). In addition, high school students gave a significantly higher score for the 'need for Korean culinary arts major' than college and university students' (p<0.001). University students placed more emphasis on the current policies and business projects of the government for globalization of Korean cuisine as compared to high school and college students (p<0.001). A high percentage of respondents perceived Korean cuisine to be 'old fashioned(44.6%), followed by 'difficulty in finding a good job(40.1%)'. Forty five% of the students responded that the important factor for Korean culinary arts education was the 'curriculum'. More than half of the students perceived 'ability to adapt traditional cuisine style to foreigners and modern customers' as a very important area. In terms of areas required to be included in Korean culinary arts curriculum, ‘basic cooking skills(4.49)' received the highest perceived need score, followed by 'languages(4.46)', 'traditional Korean food(4.33)' and ‘Korean food culture(4.21)'. The findings of the study can be used to develop a curriculum for Korean culinary arts major.