So you’ve overdosed on Top Chef and Food Network, and you’re bound and determined to become a chef? Be prepared for a long, hard journey ahead of you. Becoming a chef takes a love of food, determination, and a willingness to start at the bottom and work your way up. Think you’ve got what it takes? Read on for all the information you’ll need to know before becoming a chef.
Types of Education
Educational programs available to chefs vary greatly. You can become a chef by either a school vocational program, two year college, or a four year college. Some industry associations, unions, and culinary institutions also offer apprentice programs. In rarer cases, certain restaurants or hotels will offer training programs, though it may be hard to transfer to another hard or restaurant unless the source of training has a great reputation in the food industry.
What You’ll Learn While Training
Most of your class time will be spent with food. Preparing food, prepping food, serving food, criticizing food, and serving food. If you don’t want to be absolutely immersed in food, becoming a chef is not for you. You’ll learn every cooking technique imaginable (and even a few you couldn’t imagine). By the end, you should have a great palate and a good sense of food and flavor combinations. You will also learn about sanitation and public health codes that you’ll need to hold to the highest standards. You will also learn how to care for and use kitchen equipment. If you’re a determined, hardworking chef, you can become head chef, but expect it to take around 10 years. You don’t generally rise quickly in the restaurant industry.