What should I do if I want to become a chef?

I want to become a Culinary Arts Chef. What should I look out for in training, any tips?

• Any one have any advice on what I should be prepared for? I know most of what to look out for but just in case. Please don't be an idiot or sarcastic (I'm really sick of ...show more

• Answer:

  The most important thing is the reputation of the culinary arts school you attend. If you want to work in premiere restaurants in major cities like Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, etc., they won't even consider you unless you graduated from a school like CIA. On the flipside, if you don't care about big names in big cities, or if you want to open your own restaurant, you can save money by going through a culinary arts program at your local community college. If you're thinking of going into business yourself, you should also go through a course in culinary/restaurant management so you can learn the business side of running a restaurant (food costs, labor costs, overhead, maintenance, insurance, etc.). You also want to be sure to have a REALLY good set of knives. Wusthof knives are the industry standard, but Global knives are used by many top chefs. Also, many chefs are using a combination of European knives (like Wusthof) with Japanese knives (like Shun, Masamoto, and Tojiro). On the subject of knives, you need to have a good knife sharpener or learn how to sharpen your own knives. For electric knife sharpeners, Chef's Choice is recognized as the best. They also have sharpeners that will do European bevel (20 degrees) and Japanese bevel (15 degrees). Be prepared for long hours, hard work, and working with/for chefs who will rip you a new @$$hole over every little mistake you make. You will have to practice, practice, PRACTICE, and make sure you pay close attention because the devil is in the details when it comes to culinary arts.