What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Chef

Not all professional kitchens are the same. Your experiences will be different than mine AND you’ll continue learning and discovering new things that whole time that you are in the industry. But, these are six things that I wish I would’ve understood better before entering the culinary field. Note: These definitely wouldn’t have stopped me from becoming a Chef. I’m so glad that I took the career path that I did. I would’ve never realized how much I can help people become better cooks at home (and how rewarding it is) unless I had the experiences I had.

With all of that being said, I think that there is a huge benefit to being aware of these things before entering the culinary field - or even going to culinary school. In this video I also share four things to think about if you are considering going to culinary school. And we end the video with my top 5 most important things I’ve learned in professional kitchens that I use in my kitchen at home every day.

The 6 things I wish I knew before entering the culinary field and becoming a chef

1. Kitchens are uncomfortable and challenge your senses.

   1. Temperature extremes to hot and cold

   2. Harsh, fluorescent lighting

   3. Strong aromas

   4. Loud and oftentimes crowded

2. You will see every facet of your coworkers’ personalities, emotions

   1. You work very closely with people

   2. Energy and vibe of your workday is dependent on everybody’s energy

   3. Unfortunately there is still a lot of sexism and misogyny that goes unchecked

3. Lack of fashion

   1. For Food Safety and Sanitation reasons, you shouldn’t wear long nails, painted nails, heavy makeup, jewelry, long hair worn down

4. Lots of people asking about nutrition

   1. Strangers will come up and ask you what they should be eating

   2. You might be expected to be an authority on the latest “health” trend

   3. Some people will judge the food that you cook based off of how your body looks

5. It’s tough on your body

   1. There’s a lot of repetitive motion which creates soreness and knots in your muscles

   2. Feet, knees, hips, and back are often achy and worn out

   3. Establish a full body stretching routine that you complete EVERY single day

6. You might not be able to be as creative with food as you are hoping

   1. You have to be in a really specific role in order to get really creative with food

Things to Consider Before Going to Culinary School

1. The financial cost vs average cook salary and how those will balance each other out in the long term

2. School will give you an exposure to cooking styles, ingredients, processes but you HAVE to work to truly become familiar and efficient

3. Consider pairing a business degree or hospitality degree with your culinary degree

4. There’s a difference between earning a bachelor’s degree and earning a certification in culinary

My Top 5 Lessons from the Professional Kitchen to Your Kitchen At Home

• Knife skills

• Prepping and mise en place

• Knowing your flavor palate

• Comfort with kitchen tools

• Broader understanding of cooking styles and using flavor