Do you have an intrinsic interest in cooking? Are you fascinated with
the exotic spices, colourful sights of food and like experimenting with
different types of food items? Here is a perfect career choice for you
i.e 'Career as a Chef'. The recent boom in the hospitality industry
has completely changed the meaning of cooking. It is not just about preparing
foods; now cooking is more than an activity which is confined to the traditional
kitchen. Cooking can be defined as a specialised art which combines passion,
creativity, hard work and is all about the techniques, ingredients, nutrition,
recipes and flavours.
The word 'chef' has its origin from the French phrase chef de cuisine,
which means the chief or head of a kitchen. A chef, in the contemporary
sense of the term, is an artist who is equipped with specialized training
to master the craft of cookery. The profession of a chef is one of
the most demanding and backbreaking one, which demands a lot of hard work.
Numerous well paying catering jobs are there in the hospitality industry
for those who have a flair and talent for preparing mouth watering delicacies.
As it is commonly believed, the job of a chef is not just cooking a recipe.
The chef has to know all aspects of food and beverages, including the
art of vegetable and fruit sculptures and its presentation. He should
have the knowledge of making wide variety of foods that include appetizers,
salads, soups, main dishes, side orders and desserts. The chef has to
be up to date with the managerial and administrative aspects of running
the kitchen - from shopping, menu preparation and planning to nutrition
analysis and inventory management.
The primary and major responsibility of the chef is to create recipes
and prepare meals. As the chef, moves higher up the ladder they have to
play varied roles like organizing the kitchen; planning the meals to be
served; directing staff; supervising kitchen operations and so on. The
work will keep you on your toes, a chef can be busy all day, may have
to keep late hours regularly, work on weekends and even holidays. But
the job of a Chef will never get you bored, if you have a passion for
cooking along with innovation and dedication. Everyday there will be new
excitement in your job, like preparing birthday delicacies, cooking for
marriage parties, planning menu for special guests and so on. Apart
from these, most chefs will have the opportunity to travel to a lot of
places and meet all kinds of people.
Though culinary profession is suitable for both male and female, this
field specially in the hotel and hospitality industry is considered a
male dominated one. The reason for this may be that, the profession of
a chef usually starts at the lower side of the spectrum and involves lot
of hard work and needs tremendous physical fitness and toughness to survive.
Sanjeev Kapoor, Tarla Dalal, Atul Kochchar, Madhur Jaffrey, Rakesh Sethi
are some of the celebrity chefs renowned not only in India but across
the world for bringing Indian cooking and Indian cuisine to the top.
