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Bourdain's earlier book, Kitchen Confidential is great and I highly recommend it. It also has a "So You Want to Be a Chef" chapter (perhaps they are the same).
by callmeed 16y ago
Bourdain's earlier book, Kitchen Confidential is great and I highly recommend it. It also has a "So You Want to Be a Chef" chapter (perhaps they are the same).
http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Confidential-Updated-Adventures-Underbelly/dp/0060899220/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1285019980&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Confidential-Updated-Adventure...
There was a time in my life when I aspired to be a chef and/or restaurateur. Later I concluded that it's better if some of your passions are simply left as that ... passions without the added burden of depending on them for your livelihood.
But I do think everyone should work at a restaurant at least once in their life. It's a customer-service learning experience and gives you an appreciation for the staff when you patronize restaurants later.
- pavs 16y ago> But I do think everyone should work at a restaurant at least once in their life. It's a customer-service learning experience and gives you an appreciation for the staff when you patronize restaurants later. Done that and I agree with you 100%. Also "Kitchen Confidential" is an excellent book and you will enjoy it more if you ever worked in a restaurant.
- mparr4 16y agoAgreed. Experiencing the "other end" of things provides an appreciation of how it feels to be the one performing the service rather than seeking it. You tend to treat people differently after getting treated like shit a couple of times.
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoIt's a customer-service learning experience Maybe if you are part of the waitstaff. If you're a cook, it's mostly a lot of cursing, lewd comments, alcoholism, drug use, etc...
- maxwell 16y agoThe place I'm at right now has an open kitchen, and this is greatly minimized (at least the cursing). Being right off the dining room means it's also very cool (only kitchen I've been in that's refreshing to walk into right in the middle of summer) and has good lighting.
- maxwell 16y agoDepends what one's passionate about exactly. My passion isn't cooking, it's cooking in professional kitchens with dynamic menus. This is why I can't work at a software company, it's waaay less fun. Conveniently, restaurant sw almost universally sucks, so I'm now growing my startup with former and current employers to solve a major pain point in a lucrative, untapped industry that I love and deeply respect.
- sgoraya 16y ago> But I do think everyone should work at a restaurant at least once in their life. It's a customer-service learning experience and gives you an appreciation for the staff when you patronize restaurants later. Very much agreed - I worked in the kitchen of a family run Chinese restaurant during my junior and senior years of high school. Did everything from taking orders, to chopping tons of cabbage, mopping up a drunk assholes puke to de-veining shrimp. All at the same time! J/K ;) Although it sucked some of the time, looking back at it, I would have done it all over again. Learned a lot (I can cook Chinese and can put together a great dinner very quick), made long lasting relationships (the same family still owns the restaurant and I stop by whenever I visit my parents) and the customer service aspects have been ingrained in me since.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]