More college students are choosing to study how to sauté.

A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center finds that community college enrollment grew by 0.5% this spring from last year. One particular area of study saw a big increase: the culinary arts. Enrollment in 2-year programs was up nearly 10% from last spring.

One of the things you’ll learn in a culinary program is how sausage is made, and not in the metaphorical sense.

“You turn the crank, and it pulls that plunger up from the top,” said Joshua Wickham at Columbus State Community College in Ohio as he demonstrated the process.

Sausage-making is part of the school’s culinary arts program, which Wickham helps direct. He said the field is growing in popularity partly because being a chef is now glorified on television and social media in a way it didn’t used to be. 

“We’re no longer the dregs of society, we are now artisan laborers, right — we are appreciated now for our craft,” he said.

About half of all chefs and head cooks go to college to learn that craft, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bill Lawhorn is with the agency and said there’s increasing demand for people to fill those roles.

“There’s a huge number of establishments that are full service that need that chef or head cook,” he said.

It’s not just restaurants hiring — elder care facilities and hospitals are also looking to serve an aging population with a taste for artisanal sausage.