Chef

When you are trying to relax, do you often find yourself in the kitchen, elbows deep in batter? Is your TikTok “For You Page” filled with people whipping up the perfect dishes? You can use that interest in making food to become a chef! This career path lets you experience different cultures and learn new culinary techniques while nurturing your inner mad scientist, using math, science, and the latest technology to create unique recipes.

Personal Connection

When you become a chef, you do so much more than simply provide food for your guests and customers. Chefs must know where the best ingredients come from and how each one is used to make the best version of every dish. Many chefs also combine their knowledge of many cultures and the unique relationship with food found in each one to create culinary experiences that bring people together over a delicious meal.

Do you love creating and getting hands-on in your creative process?
Are you interested in different cultures and sharing their history and traditions?
Would you love to bring joyful and fulfilling experiences to people?
Do you perform well in fast-paced environments and work well in a team?
Are you always looking for chances to travel?
Do you get excited about trying new things or putting your own spin on old ways of doing things?

Other Connections

Even if you decide not to become a full-time chef, the culinary arts have lots of different career paths available, including:

Bakers and pastry chefs, who provide old favorites and personalized creations for those unique and cherished memories of special occasions and celebrations such as weddings, birthdays, promotions, and graduations

Owners and managers of restaurants and event venues, who provide the perfect food and drink menus to complement the vibe and entertainment of the business

Food scientists and technologists, who help research new foods, production methods, and healthier solutions to processed foods and nutrition

Food safety and health inspectors, who work for governmental agencies such as the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure food processing facilities comply with government regulations, ultimately preventing food-related diseases and contamination

Culinary arts teachers, who guide and educate students who aspire to be chefs, bakers, or other culinary experts

Software developers or engineers, who build apps and other technology or tools to help streamline and create efficiency in kitchen inventory management, nutritional data calculations, and connecting chefs with people from all over the world

STEM Connection

Here are just a few ways that math, science, and technology tools support a career as a chef:

Math is the essential ingredient in every recipe:

Anyone who has ever baked knows that messing up measurements or time in the oven can lead to a kitchen disaster. Using math in the kitchen, from fractions to geometry, helps ensure measurements, serving sizes, nutritional information, timing, and temperature are correct when creating your masterpiece in the kitchen.

You can’t ignore the chemistry in this kitchen:

Food science and technology play a big part in being a chef. Chefs have to know which ingredients react with each other and how the chemical components of food break down into nutritional value. Not only do the different ingredients play into these reactions that create our food, but using different cooking technologies¬¬ (for example, an air fryer versus a broiler, or an open flame versus a blow torch) results in a unique variety of presentation and overall taste.

Cooking with the cloud makes running a kitchen easier:

Advances in computer technology and software, such as cloud-based software, are essential in keeping up with inventory management, cost control, customer feedback, and knowing what sells and what doesn’t when running a successful culinary operation.

Applications for chefs at every level:

The vast variety of software applications that have been developed, and continue to be developed, allow professional and home chefs alike to connect not just in restaurants, but also in the privacy of their homes. With the latest apps for chefs and cooking, professionals can share recipes and advanced techniques with home chefs looking to channel their inner culinary artist. Home chefs can use new apps to search databases of recipes filtered by the contents of their fridge or pantry, reducing food waste and empowering budget-based chefs.

When tech and food collab for social good:

You’re probably no stranger to the staged and filtered photos of dishes from restaurants that are often all over social media. But what if every one of those pics bragging about gorgeous and delicious food represented a donation to a food bank? YouTube celebrities famous for their love of food have collaborated with the tech startup behind the Dysh app to promote a food-focused, restaurant-ranking app that combines competition with social good.

Journeys to Becoming a Chef

The path to becoming a chef may seem daunting right now, but your love for cooking and self-determination can put you well on your way to achieving your dream while still in high school.

Read about one chef, a graduate of the famous Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, and his path to becoming an internationally trained chef:

Marc Vaca, cuisine chef at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, believes passion and commitment are the core traits of every good chef. “I had a passion for cooking from an early age, and I was fortunate enough to have grown up in a family environment where food was of utmost importance.” Becoming a chef is often one of those careers where people have known all their lives that they loved food and to cook, but they may not have had a straight path to the profession. The best way to get into the culinary world is to start building your experience. Working in restaurants, many of which hire high school students for part-time or seasonal positions, will allow you to start gaining valuable knowledge of how the industry works, what it takes to run a business, and what skills you need to become a chef. Whether it be committing to the role of the dishwasher, server, or hostess, you will begin to gain experience and make connections with those who are already working in the kitchen, while potentially finding a great mentor to help lead you through the process. According to Chef Vaca, “My advice to an aspiring chef would be to stick with it, to be hardworking and determined. [. . .] It is not enough just to know how to cook to be a chef, it is also important to be able to guide a team, be a leader, share know-how and to be accessible all at the same time.”

Vocational or trade schools are a great option for high school juniors and seniors who have a passion for becoming a chef. These programs give valuable experience and academic credit, making it easier to obtain a culinary job, possibly even as a sous chef or other kitchen help to the head chef. But not all culinary knowledge is gained in a school setting. If you ever get the opportunity to travel or experience authentic food and cooking from other cultures, take it. “Travelling opened up a whole new culinary world to me where I discovered new styles of cooking, new products, and new tastes,” says Chef Vaca.

Jumpstarting your path to becoming a great chef can start right at home. Thanks to the many chefs before you who have written cookbooks and blogs, filmed cooking shows, and started YouTube and TikTok accounts to share their knowledge, you can now build the skills and expertise you need through experimenting and practicing a variety of cooking and baking skills,

At the heart of the culinary arts and the foodservice industry are many chefs who have overcome incredible personal struggles and systemic barriers to rising in the profession. Read about how the path to becoming a chef and restaurant owner gave one person a second chance at life:

Darnell “Superchef” Ferguson, owner of SuperChefs in Louisville, Kentucky, and frequent guest on national television cooking shows has always found comfort in cooking. “Everything was chaotic outside of my household growing up, so I liked that this profession was structured. Everything had a place in the kitchen.” Chef Ferguson got his start as a teenager in vocational school “where I would go to regular classes for two hours and take cooking classes for the rest of the day.” Like many others, however, Chef Ferguson had to overcome so much to achieve his dreams. “Just getting into culinary school was a fight” when he didn’t have the best grades or a financially secure family to support him through college.

But that didn’t keep Chef Ferguson down. He went to night school to get through college and worked during the day in restaurants. Even when he was living in his car and struggling to stay out of jail, “I had already made the decision of where I was going. I knew what I was going to do with my life.” Fast forward through a lack of faith from investors, mounting debt, and a restaurant fire, Chef Ferguson has come out on the other side, always thankful for the community he has built and the dedication to this dream he has nurtured. Chef Ferguson owns multiple successful restaurants in Kentucky; has been a guest on The Rachael Ray Show, Guy Fieri’s Grocery Games, and Beat Bobby Flay; and now mentors and teaches through community classes on cooking and the benefits of the field. Chef Ferguson’s final advice comes from his favorite quote: “The preparation is always longer than the celebration.”

That’s so important to keep in mind for a chef. For the most prestigious chefs, the journey starts with going to a culinary school, which can take one to four years, depending on the program. Culinary programs may offer professional certificates or degrees at the associate, bachelor’s, or even master’s levels. Attending a program that earns a full degree will also give you great knowledge on how the business side of the industry works, leading you towards a strong management and head chef path.

Read the full interview from Darnell Ferguson here

Articles, Videos, Podcasts of Interest

Cooking and running a kitchen take experience and confidence, much of which is learned from great mentors. Check out what famous, successful chefs have to share with the next generation of aspiring chefs here:

Ramping up your skills in the kitchen can start right now with this podcast providing bite-sized episodes for anyone who loves to cook:

Though there aren’t usually strict educational or training requirements for most chef jobs, you might consider a culinary degree or apprenticeship to help you get into high-end kitchens. Check out this step-by-step guide on how to become a formally trained chef:

Want to hear more from professional chefs on the pros and cons of culinary schools? Check out this interview of four chefs:

Chefs can, and do, play a pivotal role in feeding their communities. From sustainably sourced ingredients to partnerships with food pantries, chefs can make a real impact on world hunger. Learn more here:

Looking to hear straight from Darnell “Superchef” Ferguson on his journey to celeb chef and restaurant owner? Check out this cooking demo and video interview here:

Check out this podcast by a culinary historian, who brings in guest chefs and experts to discuss how cultural relationships with food developed over time:

Fun Facts! “Did You Know?”

Some trivia about chefs and the world of cooking:

Indigenous food and culture on the rise:

Though we learn about the displacement and mistreatment of Native American tribes in history, we often skip over the effects of history on the present day. With geographic displacement and many other generational disruptions to tribal populations, many tribes lost access to the natural herbs and ingredients of their traditional foods. A growing number of chefs from tribal groups and First Nation people, however, are working to preserve and promote indigenous culinary traditions.

Go for gold at the Culinary Olympics:

The world’s first culinary arts exhibition took place in 1900 in Frankfurt, Germany. It quickly grew to an international competition and now features teams from 59 countries. Young chefs up to age 25 can compete in the Junior National Teams, preparing a three-course menu for 60 people or a buffet for twelve people!

Diversity in food service and food media:

From viral content creators on YouTube and TikTok to leadership roles in high-end kitchens, many chefs are calling for diverse representation and exposure for people of color. Netflix’s Chef’s Table famously faced a fan uproar for the lack of women and people of color in the chefs and experts featured in the show about the food industry. Thanks to public pushback, the show’s writers and producers made an effort to feature more diverse stories in its next season.

The uniform of a chef:

You know the tall white hats and fancy jackets chefs wear on television? These fashionable accessories come from a long Euro-centric history of purposeful decisions to create a uniform that signifies status and function. For example, the chef’s hat is officially called a toque, and each pleat was meant to represent an element or recipe being mastered.

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