14 Jun 2019
5 Happening Careers After Completing Culinary School
Are you passionate and excited by your love for food and creating innovative gastronomical delights? There are several culinary arts courses in India that can help you take your love and talent in the right direction. In the kitchen, you put your heart and soul into harnessing your passion. Yet there may be times when you envision what it would be like to do this full-time. Some lingering questions may bother you.
Can you really make a successful career out of your love and passion for food? What are the benefits of culinary school and if a culinary arts degree can be your stepping stone into the world of food?
If you are interested to know how to turn up the heat on your passion for cooking, then having a professional degree is the right way to go. There are several exciting careers after culinary school. Let’s look at some of the happening jobs in the culinary arts field that you can pursue post completing your degree.
5 Happening Careers After Completing Culinary School
There are a handful of exhilarating career paths for those having a degree in culinary arts. However, there are also many who choose to wander into the food service industry too.
Let’s take a look at the available career options for culinary school graduates:
1. Chef
Being a Chef is the ultimate goal of many culinary arts students. Also known as Head Cooks, Chefs are involved in the direct preparation of food along with having to also supervise the staff that are preparing it. Chefs are the highest authoritative figure in the kitchen. Along with food preparation and staff supervision, they are equally involved in developing new recipes and menu planning.
Chefs are also responsible towards ordering and maintaining the inventory of supplies. Additionally, they need to ensure and monitor that the ingredients being used are fresh. Their role includes hiring and supervising cooks and support staff in the kitchen along with inspecting kitchen equipment, work areas and adhering to all food, hygiene and safety guidelines.
2. Cook
A happening career path for culinary arts graduates is becoming a cook in a restaurant or in an institution. There are several types of cooks such as prep cooks and line cooks. Head cooks are the bosses in the kitchen and any cook below that rank will work under their supervision and direction along with teams of kitchen staff. The primary responsibility of cooks is to prep the food as per the outlined recipes. This also involves weighing, measuring and mixing ingredients. Prep work also means any cooking, baking, grilling, frying, boiling and steaming varieties of food as per instructions of the Head Cook.
In addition to the primary responsibility, the cook also has to manage the store ingredients in the kitchen and make sure that the freshness and quality of the product are as per standards. Cooks have a vital role to play in the kitchen by being a key component in the arrangement and serving of the end dishes to the customers.
3. Recipe Developer
If creativity in food is what interests you, then being a Recipe Developer is the perfect match as a profession, post completing your culinary arts degree. Your primary role as a Recipe Developer will be to research and innovate new recipes.
Secondary responsibilities include recipe testing, evaluation of new recipes to understand if they are suitable for the target customer base along with budgeting testing expenditures. Restaurants, magazines, culinary shows on television tend to hire Recipe Developers.
4. Food Stylist
A trendy profession for culinary graduates is to become a Food Stylist. Restaurants and their menus need advertising and promotion. Culinary shows that have increased in manifold also need to showcase immaculate dishes. The pristine plates of food that we see in photographs, magazines, promotions and on television is the work of a Food Stylist.
The Food Stylist’s role is to prepare the dishes that will look gorgeous when photographed or filmed. In order to get this done, they have a number of tricks that enhance the visual oomph and appeal of the dish. By using chemicals to produce steam or via alternative cooking mediums, they are able to maximize the coloring of the food that is prepared. Food Stylists are often hired by marketing companies, magazines and television networks as consultants.
5. Food Scientist
Food Scientists are an integral part of the public health and safety system as they conduct research that ensures that the prevalent food processes are constantly being improved upon. Working primarily in the research and development domain, Food Scientists concentrate in the areas pertaining to regulatory, processing and quality assurance. Food Scientists are generally employed by laboratories associated with research at universities or by food manufacturers.
If being in the kitchen is what makes you thrive, then there’s no reason why you should not make a career out of it. Whilst these are some of the happening and trendy professions in the culinary world, it is all about finding the right fit for your future growth.
IICA, New Delhi
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