A Career in Culinary Arts

You love food, love to cook, and love to eat. You watch cooking shows on cable and PBS. You love to explore new restaurants and specialty food stores. You subscribe to or read cooking magazines and cookbooks. You cook for your family and friends. You are pretty sure that you want to cook for a living. It's now time to take this passion for food and cooking and turn it into a career. The first thing to do is explore the industry and choose a career path, investigate education options, and establish goals.

There are hundreds of career options for someone who wants to work with food, from restaurant cooks and chefs, pastry cooks and chefs, caterers, personal chefs, business owners, food writers, food stylists, resort and hotel cooks and chefs, recipe testers, cookbook writers, cooking teachers, demonstration chefs, to cooking show hosts.

The first step toward your new career in the culinary arts is earning an education. There are culinary programs within Massachusetts lasting from a few weeks to two or more years. It is necessary to build knowledge of classic and contemporary cooking techniques in order to land a job in a food establishment. A formal education will provide a student with the basic understanding of cooking a variety of ingredients, presentation and plating, safe food handling practices, baking and patisserie, and possibly restaurant and hospitality management theory. Whether you earn a certificate, diploma, or a degree, a formal education will give you an advantage in meeting your career goals and aspirations.

A crucial step in exploring education options is to choose a school that offers a program in the area of your focus: for example, if you want to bake, make sure pastry arts is included in the overall curriculum. Also, be sure that the culinary or pastry program is accredited by a national organization. This ensures that the school's facilities, faculty, and curriculum have been investigated and found to meet state and national educational standards for training programs.

Prospective culinary students should also investigate a school's placement rate, alumni organizations, the reputation of the faculty, student to instructor ratios, and financial assistance. Ask the admissions representative to audit a class, speak to graduates, and meet with the placement coordinator before making a decision.

As a culinary student, be sure to take advantage of any and all additional learning and networking opportunities. Many culinary programs offer additional learning experiences via intern- and externships, culinary travel programs, apprenticeships, work-study programs, and special events. In addition, some schools host on-site events such as chef cooking demonstrations, special seminars and workshops, and book signings. The key to success in the cooking industry is dedication, practice, and learning.

A professional kitchen is its own village: workers come from all walks of life, backgrounds, ethnicities, experiences, and age groups where the skill level ranges from beginner to veteran. Each person contributes his or her own level of education, skills, and experience to the style of food prepared and served.

Working in a kitchen is a fast-paced environment, where one can excel in a short amount of time. Due to the nature of the industry, a prep cook can quickly advance to line cook or sous chef within a few years. A dessert plater can rise through the ranks to become the assistant pastry chef within six months. With hard work, dedication to skill improvement, and consistency in performance, one can reach his or her career goals faster than any other industry.

However, working in a professional kitchen isn't always glamorous, nor is it for everyone. The tasks are rigorous with many long hours spent standing. Most kitchen staff members spend nights and weekends working, sacrificing social and personal relationships. Most wouldn't trade it for the world.

Working in a restaurant kitchen isn't for everyone. There are many paths one can explore within this industry. Food manufactures hire recipe testers and developers to introduce new product lines; newspapers and magazines depend on free-lance writers for food-related articles; television programmers depend on cooks to stylize the food that appears on shows; and couples depend on specialty cake designers to bake wedding cakes. The point is there are over a hundred positions noted in the US Department of Labor job categories encompassing work with food. If you have a passion, you can find your niche within this delicious and exciting industry.

There are many rewarding aspects to cooking, including witnessing the joy on your diner's faces as they eat your dishes, giving back to the community, and living and doing something you love. Many chefs and cooks support local farmers by purchasing produce and meats grown within the community. Some chefs have even converted their kitchens to be 'green,' meaning using food scraps for compost, recycling cooking oil, and eliminating plastic products. Others subscribe to a seasonal menu by cooking and serving ingredients that are available only during specific seasons. While others will donate food to pantries, host fundraisers, and donate use of space for good causes.

The food industry is diverse and expansive. People choosing to enter it should turn to the National Restaurant Association, the US Department of Labor, and the US Census Bureau to determine career, earning, and labor projections.

The National Restaurant Association released an industry report in 2007 estimating that there were 303,000 restaurants in Massachusetts with sales totaling $11.7 billion dollars. Its future outlook projected a 9.8% job growth through 2017, with more an estimate of 29,000 new jobs added in the next decade. Overall restaurant industry sales are expected to exceed 1.5 trillion in sales across the US in 2008.

A career should fulfill one's passion, goals and aspirations, and of course provide a healthy standard of living. Be sure to investigate your career options, educational programs, and career-earning potential before making life-changing decisions. A career in the culinary arts can be and is rewarding, no matter the path you choose to get there.

Editorial provided by Julie Burba, Director of Communications, The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, Cambridge, MA.