Help!!

[futurechef4679]

I cook constantly, and have since I was young. I love coming up with recipes, and working with food. I'm planning on majoring in poli sci, but I am seriously questioning that. I am wondering if maybe I should consider working with food in some way. I have thought about this previously, and at one point was preparing to attend a culinary school. I am hoping maybe some of the chefs/food related professions, could tell me how you realized that going into food was right in the long run. I'm not sure if I would become a chef, but any help from chefs/pastry chefs/etc. would be appreciated. Thanks!!

[AngeliaB]

Have you worked in a restaurant setting yet?? say as a cook? That will give you an idea of what your in for and if you really want to go to a culinary school.

[TheMurrmaid]

Hi Kate.

I would recommend getting that degree in poli/sci or whatever non-culinary field interests you. I don't think you'll ever regret having gotten your bachelor's degree. It's not necessarily useful, but it's something people like to see that you have. And you can certainly work part-time in a restaurant, bakery, etc. while getting that degree.

While working "normal" i.e. office jobs I always found myself involved in the food industry somehow. Many times I'd end up doing administrative work for a company which dealt with food - I worked for a restaurant supplier, as the office manager for a restaurant, and for an olive oil maker. Those were the jobs I... hated the least. Something just led me in that direction.

The decision to go to pastry school was a revelation. Here's the kicker though, I was determined to get as much as possible out of the experience and, for me, that meant no extra job on the side, just school. That meant that I waited 10 YEARS for the stars to align so I could quit my job and enroll in pastry school. That's a decade, baby, and my interest never waivered. And, in the meantime, I learned as much as I could on my own.

As far as knowing, now, that this is right for me... No matter how tired and ache-y I am, I still want to go to work. I cook on my days off. Even though I make relatively little and have no benefits or paid vacation time or 401K or any of those "normal" perks, I am never tempted to seek out some other type of job. I have options, I could take other jobs that in many ways would make life easier, but I have no desire to do that.