Every once in a while I get an email from some young person who thinks I’m a professional chef and wants to interview me for a school project. I let them know I’m a home cook who enjoys food, cooking and writing about it and encourage them to contact another chef or I find them someone I think may be able to help them.

Patrick, a third grader from Massachusetts contacted me through his teacher and wanted to interview a pastry chef. Lucky for both of us, Chef Jenni Field, a culinary school graduate, was willing and able.

Here’s what Patrick’s third grade teacher wrote me:

I am a third grade teacher whose class is doing a project about careers.  I have a young man who needs to interview a pastry chef.  Would you be able to accommodate?  He would email you the 6 easy questions, and you could email back the answers.  Thanks for considering this request.  You’d make one young man very happy! Sincerely, Amy

Here are Patrick’s very thoughtful questions, Chef Jenni’s introductory remarks and her answers. Thanks Jenni.

First of all, you need to know that I was a pastry chef in fine dining restaurants, but now I am a food writer and have my own website.  I enjoyed working in the kitchen, but I love what I do now, too.  You have asked some very good questions, and I will try to answer them for you as fully as possible.

1.  Why did you decide to do this job?

I had been a teacher for sixteen years, but I had always loved cooking and baking.  After so many years teaching, I wasn’t really enjoying it anymore, and I was excited about changing careers to become a pastry chef.  That way, I could cook and bake every day!

2.  Do you need any kind of special education, training, or license to do
your job? What kind?

Many people get into cooking and baking just by starting at a young age.  Most of the great chefs in Europe, as well as many in the United States, never went to a special school.  They just worked in a lot of different restaurants and kitchens, learning from great chefs and slowly gaining more and more responsibility in the kitchen.

In the United States these days, many people graduate from culinary school, but graduating from school doesn’t make you a chef.  ”Chef” is the French word for “chief,” and the chief is the person in charge.  The chief has to know more about cooking and baking than everyone else in the kitchen, and he/she has earned respect.

People fresh out of culinary school still have a lot to learn, but it is a very good place to start, and you can learn a lot of the basics of cooking and baking.  Many cooks and chefs are ServSafe Certified.  This means that they have passed a test all about food safety and sanitation.  When I went to culinary school, I took and passed the ServSafe test, too.

3.  What do you like about your job? What do you dislike?

I really enjoyed (and I still do) being able to come up with a dessert idea, make it, and have people like it.  There’s almost nothing better than when someone compliments you on a great dessert that was all your idea!

The thing I disliked the most is standing up in a very hot kitchen all day long.  At the end of the day, my feet were very tired and sore and all I wanted to do was lie on the couch and watch TV for an hour or two!

4.  How long have you been doing this job?

I worked at my first restaurant for a year and a half, and I was the pastry cook and then the pastry chef.  That was a good feeling to get a promotion to pastry chef!  I helped to open and create the dessert menu for another restaurant, and I worked there as the pastry chef in charge of production (making all the dessert components) for six months.  Then, my husband got a new job in another state and we moved away.

5.  What do you do on this job?

Aside from making all the dessert components–ice creams, garnishes, sauces as well as the cakes, tarts and other main dessert items, I also ordered necessary ingredients when they were running low, making sure we never ran out of important things like chocolate, flour, butter, sugar and eggs.  I also kept an inventory of all the food items that we needed.  I ordered ingredients from different vendors and made sure they were all properly stored.

6.  Do you have to retire from this job at a certain age? What age?

As far as I am aware, there is no set age at which a chef needs to retire.  Many chefs work hard into their 60s, 70s and even 80s.  I read somewhere that being a chef is a very good job because you’ll never go hungry and you’ll always have a job.

I hope I’ve answered your questions, Patrick.  If you’d like to interview a pastry chef who is still working at a hotel or restaurant, you can probably call one of the fancy restaurants in your city and ask to interview the pastry chef.  Most chefs are excited about their jobs and would be happy to help you with your project.

Take care,
Jenni Field

Related Topics

Culinary Career Resources

Top Baking Schools & Pastry Chef Programs

Culinary Schools By City

For the past two years I’ve had the pleasure of sponsoring a Reluctant Gourmet Culinary School Grant in association with Chef4Students.org. It is a great way for me to participate in the industry and make a small difference to these fine young people and future chefs. This year’s recipient is Blair Cannon who is currently attending Johnson & Wales in Charlotte, NC.

You can read his appreciative letter to my friend Chef David Nelson, founder and president of Chef4Students on my blog. Check out A Letter From Culinary Student Blair Cannon. It is letters like this that get me so excited to be involved with this organization.

A Little About Blair

Blair Cannon is a 20 year old who lived in Virginia Beach, VA all his life. Virginia Beach is a beautiful resort city and a great place to grow up. Tourism is big and there are a lot of great restaurants to work.

Before attending culinary school, Blair started out working as a dishwasher at the age of 15 with little training. Then he worked my way up at some of the most popular fine dining restaurants as a line cook. At 16, he was given a great opportunity from local celebrity Chef Todd Jurich, to apprentice at his new restaurant, Zinc Brasserie. He taught him everything there is to know about opening a new restaurant from scratch.

He and Chef Pete Evans taught Blair not only how to be a line cook, but inventory and the financial responsibility of opening a new restaurant. Even though the hours were long and the work grueling, the rewards were great. They even displayed his photo on the side of the restaurant building.

Blair is currently finishing up his training at The Masters, at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. According to Blair, working his co-op at the Masters was a once in a lifetime experience. He never had worked at a golf resort before, especially one that is famous for the Masters Golf tournament. He said it was exciting to overcome the challenges that were presented through working with such a high-volume production.

Interview

At what age did you decide you wanted to go to culinary school and become a professional chef?

Ever since the age of five, I loved to cook. Growing up in a family of “foodies” who had a passion for cooking, it was not until I was 15 years old, that a culinary class I took in high school gave me the inspiration to want to go to culinary school and become a professional chef.

Even though I have enjoyed cooking with my family, I had originally wanted to become an air force pilot. But my mother wanted me to have another profession to fall back on, in case I did not get into the Air force Academy. She suggested I try the C-CAP, Careers through Culinary Arts Program in high school and the rest is history.

Did you take any classes in high school that may have helped you prepare for a culinary education?

While in high school, the C-CAP, Careers through Culinary Arts Program, had the greatest impact on me and gave me the foundation toward my career as a chef.  I cannot speak highly enough of how great this program is!

This culinary program that was taught at my high school, Vo-tech or Technical and Career Education center, is an excellent program for students interested in pursuing a culinary career. Not only do you receive high school credit, but you gain skills that give you an enormous head start before attending culinary school.

This program also offers scholarships through culinary competitions that help a lot. I won many scholarships in these competitions as well as gained a lot of experience.

You are currently enrolled at Johnson & Wales in Charlotte. How did you decide this was the right school for you?

Originally I wanted to attend CIA, the Culinary Institute of America. But after being selected as a finalist in Johnson & Wales University’s National Top Teen Chef culinary competition, I knew I made the right choice in selecting Johnson & Wales as the best culinary school for me.

Not only did I receive a large, renewable scholarship, but the school is closer to my home state. Johnson & Wales in Charlotte, North Carolina, is not only a new campus, but it has state of the art culinary labs and is in a great location. The staff that I met during the culinary contest were friendly and helpful as well.

(more…)

Johnson & Wales Culinary Student Receives 2nd Reluctant Gourmet Culinary School Grant

I’m excited to announce that Blair Cannon, a sophomore at Johnson & Wales Culinary School in Charlotte, NC who is pursuing an Associates of Applied Science degree in Culinary Arts, was chosen to receive the 2nd Reluctant Gourmet Culinary Scholarship in association with Chef4Students.org.

The program was established in 2003 to assist culinary students in need of financial assistance. Since that time, over $77,000 has been awarded to future culinarians in the form of $1,000 culinary grants. I was able to get involved in the reviewing process along with a panel consisting of several certified chefs, business executives and culinary professionals from various organizations across the globe.

About the Chefs4Students.org Culinary Grant Program

Chefs4Students.org offers a variety of programs for companies and individuals to participate in this non-profit effort to assist culinary students in need. The Chefs4Students.org Culinary Grant Program is administered by Chef David and Pamela Nelson.

Chefs4Students.org utilizes the Yampa Valley Community Foundation, www.yvcf.org to independently oversee the financial aspects of this non-profit fund.

For More Information: http://www.chefs4students.org

A Letter From Culinary Student Blair Cannon

It’s great to be able to give back a little to the culinary industry with these culinary grants, but it means even more when you hear from the recipients themselves and learn how much these grants mean to them. Here is a letter from this years Reluctant Gourmet sponsored scholarship Blair Cannon to my friend Chef David Nelson who makes this all possible.

April 28, 2009

Dear Chef David Nelson,

I was chosen to receive the Reluctant Gourmet sponsored scholarship for your organization for 2009; and I am writing this letter to express my sincerest thanks to your organization for allowing students such as myself the opportunity to obtain this scholarship.

It has been an honor for me to be recognized for my hard work, and by receiving this scholarship; it motivates me to continue to strive for excellence.

I currently am finishing my sophomore year at Johnson & Wales in Charlotte, NC, pursuing an Associates of Applied Science degree in Culinary Arts and your scholarship support has allowed me to concentrate more on schoolwork without the financial burden. In addition, in my junior and senior years, I plan to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Food and Restaurant Management.

The program at Johnson & Wales has been challenging and the instructors inspiring as well. I have been volunteering in many activities at school such as Charlotte Shout and the academic community. Having the opportunity to meet many celebrity chefs as well as gain lots of culinary advice, has been a dream come true. At this time I am away at co-op in Augusta, GA at the Augusta National Golf Club for the Masters Golf Tournament gaining work experience and meeting a lot of celebrities.

This scholarship has helped me to realize my dreams of becoming a Chef and one day owning my own restaurant. I can assure you that as a recipient, I will make your organization proud by excelling in my studies and giving back to the community as a token of my appreciation.

Your generosity has made a profound impact on my life and I am sincerely grateful and truly honored to have been a recipient of this award.

Best Regards,

Blair Cannon

Wow! If anyone is interested in getting involved with Chef Nelson’s foundation to help culinary schools fulfill their dreams, please contact me or Chef Nelson at the web site above.