No formal education is needed in this field, but for securing a good
job with a well established organisation, professional training from a
reputed culinary academy is essential. Renowned restaurants prefer recruiting
staff with formal training in fundamentals of cooking.
Varied courses are offered by different institutions in the field of
food preparation & processing, catering technology and other relevant
areas of catering field. To avoid being conned it is better to go for
institutes registered under National Council of Hotel Management and Catering
Technology (NCHMCT).
Educational
10+2 or its equivalent is the minimum educational qualification needed
for joining any course in the culinary field. The field offers many certificate,
diploma and graduate progammes. Bachelor of Hotel Management and Catering
Technology which is of 4 year duration, and 3 year Diploma course in Hotel
Management are the major graduation courses offered in most of the reputed
culinary academy/ institutions. Admission to these courses are through
an entrance examination conducted by the National Council of Hotel Management
and Catering Technology (NCHMCT). The entrance test comprises of subjects
like English, Reasoning, General Science and General Knowledge which is
followed by group discussion and an interview.
There are certain private hotel management institutes who have foreign
affiliations and approvals from the All India Council for Technical Education
(AICTE). Besides, several Food craft Institutes in the country also provide
training in catering and food processing. One can join these food craft
institutes after their 10th or 12th board examination. The duration of
the courses in these institutes varies between 6-18 months.
Apprenticeship courses are offered by several professional culinary training
institutes in Chef training. Specialisation in the areas such as cold
kitchen, hot kitchen and Bakery & Confectionery are also offered in
the catering field. One can also obtain admission in a renowned institute
abroad for their culinary training.
Personal Skills : Those who possess an inborn love
for the art of cooking can have a bright future in the culinary career.
The most required quality for a chef is a strong sense of smell and taste.
The chefs must have an experimental bent of mind and the inquisitiveness
to know the chemistry of different food ingredients. They should possess
thorough knowledge about different variety of food and cuisine not only
of ones own country but globally, and how they are cooked, prepared and
finally presented to the guests. The chefs should be prepared to experiment
and explore varied food ingredients.
The chef should posses an outgoing and friendly personality and have
the ability to work as a team. An aspiring chef should be ready to work
for extended hours; always stay prepared to work under intense pressure;
develop a thick skin to stand criticism and be strong enough to work in
a fiery environment amidst fumes & odors. One should keep oneself
updated with knowledge and skills such as new cooking technologies and
methods etc. One also needs to have an aptitude for service and hospitality.
