Seventy-five years ago, SAIT’s first professional cookery instructor launched a Commercial Cookery course, creating the foundation for today’s School of Hospitality and Tourism.
By the late 1940s, wartime food rationing had ended in Canada, oil was discovered at Leduc and tourism was flourishing. Alberta needed trained restaurant managers and cooks, so the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art or PITA (today’s SAIT) hired Alva Ripley to develop a cookery program.
PITA’s first professional cookery instructor, Alva Ripley, was a graduate of the University of Alberta’s Home Economics program. Shown in this photo (left) from the 1950 Tech-Art Record, she gradually expanded the cookery classes housed in the Industrial Dressmaking program into a new program focusing on food service management — the foundation for today’s School of Hospitality and Tourism.
Ripley introduced the Commercial Cookery course in September 1949, covering topics such as food purchasing, preparation and service. She also taught PITA’s first restaurant management classes. Students trained with commercial restaurant equipment in this kitchen (once located on the second floor of today’s Heritage Hall) and gained daily experience working in PITA’s cafeteria.
After more than seven decades, Ripley’s Student Cafeteria idea lives on, with today’s students preparing food and learning the art of hospitality in the 4Nines Diner, the Tastemarket Canadian Kitchen and the school’s other living classrooms.
Oki, Âba wathtech, Danit'ada, Tawnshi, Hello.
SAIT is located on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7 which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney.
We are situated in an area the Blackfoot tribes traditionally called Moh’kinsstis, where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. We now call it the city of Calgary, which is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta.