Chef as Culinary Arts Profession
When most people think about a career in culinary arts, they often conjure up the image of someone serving food in big restaurants with a big chef’s cap on the head. The chef is by far the most common and most popular profession in the culinary arts field. Many who take culinary arts studies want to become professional chefs. It is so fortunate that over a hundred culinary arts schools worldwide offer chef courses for those who want the profession.
Chef as culinary arts profession has been around for several years. Thousands of people have already gained the title and are now serving the restaurants, hotels, resorts, or their homes. However, contrary to what many people think, a chef as a culinary arts professional is not easy to obtain. The process of becoming a successful chef can be demanding and exhausting. First, you must start at the bottom, spending most of your time and effort working the graveyard. You will work on weekdays and even holidays in high-pressure kitchens, leaving you tired at the end of the day.
There is more to starting a chef as cul inary art professional than mentioned above. The chefs are most likely to start as prep cooks and spend their time peeling potatoes and other ingredients, chopping tomatoes, or shelling boxes of peas rather than cooking. If you’ve proved your capabilities and skills, you’ll be promoted and start handling the duties and responsibilities of a garden manager or line cook. After you’ve proven yourself in that specific area, further responsibilities are waiting for you to handle in the following levels. It is then clear that being a chef in the culinary arts profession is not an easy endeavor to take. Although prestige is attached to the name, responsibilities and stress are outing for you to participate. Indeed, dedication, commitment, talent, and persistence are keys to success in culinary arts.
If you make it to the highest levels of the culinary world, several job possibilities are out there for you to take, however. You may be promoted to the sous-chef position or assistant to the executive chef. And, if you’re lucky enough, you may one day hold the executive chef position in your company. But again, it is essential to remember that with the prestigious name you are bearing comes more responsibilities.
The chef as a culinary arts profession is now preferred by many, not for the responsibilities and levels of stress attached to it—still, more for the benefits that chefs, as culinary arts professionals, can give. Perhaps one of the profession’s most significant benefits is the significant earnings. According to several types of research, chefs earn more than the average of $15,000 annually. The executive chef, for example, can earn between $48,000 and $80,000 per year, during the sous chef between $30,000 and $45,000 per year. This range can e an excellent start for making your life comfortable. So despite all the challenges attached to the chef as a culinary arts profession, more and more people are still pursuing it.