[Filthy Habitz]

Maybe so. But the Sous is sleeping with all the wait staff on your desk when your at home playing fake chef with the wifey lol
Oh and Sous Chef's should be smart enough to never work salary. Overtime the poor s.o.b to death.

[maniclowery]

and sucking on all the whip cream can's while drinking your wine. What a lucky Sous Chef!!

[rat]

Originally Posted by ChefBillyB

If the Sous is working from 7am to 12am 7 days a week then the Chef is making love to his wife........Bill

Or the sous chefs wife LOL

[MeatPie]

My question was, down the road, can I become an executive chef if my core education is in a community college and not some upscale culinary school??

Yes. If you want it, you can have it.

In Australia, training is run via an apprenticeship scheme.
After an indentured period - usually three or four years - you are then given your trade papers which qualifies you as a chef.

Some people say you can't be a chef until you run a kitchen. They're usually the ones who don't understand what a brigade is and where the name 'chef' comes from and actually means. Over here, 'cook' tends to mean unqualified as in no apprenticeship training just kitchen experience whereas the word 'chef' illustrates that the person has gone through an apprenticeship and technical training.

There is no emphasis at all in going to a college/university in Australia. In fact, you'd be laughed at. A degree in culinary arts? Other than Cordon Bleu - which is French owned and run - there is none here. You don't need it.

Someone mentioned being a student was akin to being a commis chef of just below.

That's not the case here. A commis chef is a fourth year apprentice or first year post trade. This is identical to that of Europe.

So yeah, if you want to be an executive chef you can be. My question is: why bother?

[itculinary]

The answer is yes.

I own and ran my own resturant for 10 yeasrs with no porfessional training but a passion for cooking. I am now not an executive chef, but am teaching at various colleges in Europe.

the basic thing is that becoming a chef takes alot of hard work and so therefore requires a certain amount of passion. it is much like verything i suppose, you must love what you are doing to truely be successful. i agree with previous comments, when i was looking to hire chefs in my restaurant, i was not too concerned with their previous training, but rather their previous experience, and in every case i had them in for a trial because what matters most is their desire to learn. it is important that you find your own style of cooking, being an executive chef in one place, may not have the same value for you in another if it doesnt corrrespond with your stlye. Being an executive chef does not only entail being able to cook, it also combnes the ability of being able to manage a team... you can never have too may cooks in the kitchen, but there does have to be one boss. i also grew up in Australia, and it is very true that for formal training there is not conceived as it is in some other western countries like america for example. we place more importance of our training in the work experience, with students being asessed by a culinary college within their supporting workplace. i have found that the same kind of theories work here in Europe. That is not take importance away from some of he fantastic institutes like Cordon Bleu and CIA which certaintly do have their place, but are not always for everyone. i have access to alot of different short an intensive programs, that may solve the fincanial problems of going to a full time culinary institute, and still offer possibilites world wide with ceratin restaurants. please feel free to contact me melinapuntoriero@bigpod.com if you would like any further help.

all the best, and remember all things worhtwhile take hard work and passion. there are many roads that we can take to arrive at our final destination, unless of course you plan on going to Bemuda

[Dave Van]

I must say that I am enrolled in the AI course in Chicago, and it is an awesome school. They care that you are learning the necessary skills and they give individual attention to students who need it. We cook everyday in our lab classes, and even get to take home everything that we make. Please don't generalize all AI schools. I have heard bad things about LCB here in Chicago, but I have never been there and would not judge. Besides, even if Chicago's is bad, LCB is still one of the top rated schools in the world. I don't think that's just good marketing.

[MeatPie]

please feel free to contact me melinapuntoriero@bigpod.com if you would like any further help.

If you're an Aussie, don't you mean bigpond (Telstra)?