Cook Up the Ideal Culinary Career

Thinking of a culinary career? Peek into the life of a chef. Can you make the cut, or will the kitchen get too hot?

by Sue Booth
sue.booth@cooking-school-search.com
Cooking School Search Columnist

Cooking up culinary delights seems glamorous, but what is it like to be a chef? How much culinary arts training is required, and what happens behind-the-scenes in a chef’s kitchen?

Chef In-The-Making

Most chefs don’t just wake up one day and decide to be culinary geniuses. The most successful chefs have many years of experience and a passion for cooking. If you’re a beginner, you should enlist in a formal culinary training program through professional culinary institutes, 2 or 4-year culinary arts degree programs, or independent culinary arts schools. To sharpen your skills after school, a chef mentor can aid in your on-the-job culinary training.

Step Into a Chef’s Shoes

Chefs don’t necessarily slave over hot stoves all day; there are different culinary career options available:

• Executive Chef: Supervises culinary staff, meal preparation, and food delivery
• Sous Chef: Second-in-command who runs the kitchen while the executive chef is absent
• Personal Chef: Plans and prepares food for a private home
• Research Chef: Develops new recipes and equipment by coupling food science and culinary skills

As well as having culinary passion and a gift in culinary arts, most chefs should work well on teams, have keen senses, and work efficiently in fast-paced environments.

The outlook for your future is promising; culinary professionals held over 3 million jobs and earned average hourly wages of $14.75 in 2004. However, with added experience, you will be able to increase your salary.

Being a chef isn’t always a piece of cake, but you can reap the rewards of following your dreams, executing your culinary training, and ensuring uniform quality and presentation of food. Who knows? You may even become famous.

Source:

Chefs, Cooks, and Food Preparation Workers

About the author

Sue Booth is an arts and education freelance writer and a former product analyst for Good Housekeeping magazine. Sue holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Posted on October 30, 2006 at 3:03 PM

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