Anneke,

I changed careers 12 years go at age 28, went to the CIA and entered classes in which everybody seemed younger than I. Then a really odd thing happened. I met an retired surgeon who had decided to start in the restaurant biz, at 60! I looked a little harder and realized that there were quite a few "older, career changers" around. Since then I've worked with a considerable amount of them. From wall street execs. to computer programmers.

As long as you are aware of the stresses and hardships of the restaurant world, and you love food.. it doesn't matter when you start.