What made you want to become a chef?

[Chef David Simpson]

Did you think it was going to be an easy trade to learn? Did you like the way your
chef jacket looked on you? What about your
first job, did you like it or did you want
sell your knifes and burn your toque?
What made you, no, what possessed you to
become a chef?
A little hard to swallow? I bet.
Would you care to here my story?

[This message has been edited by Chef David Simpson (edited October 04, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Chef David Simpson (edited October 06, 2000).]

[UniChef]

I know I posted this on one of the other groups once before, but since your asking again....

I grew up in a family of actors. We lived in NYC and I worked most of my childhood on TV and movies.

On my way home from work I would stop by a pizza joint where a friend worked. Joe of Italy on Broadway and 90th. I would help out grating cheese, portioning dough, etc.. After my friend quit, I would still stop in and work for free. One day the owner pulls me aside and offers me a job- I think it was $1.60 an hour. He couldn't figure out why I turned down the job and would still come back and work for free. He had no idea what I did. At the time I was making $250 a day on the soaps- not bad scratch in 1973 for a 14 year old.

Eventually I quit the business and we moved to Vermont. That stint in the pizza joint sparked a passion for the food business that I haven't been able to shake.

------------------
Mike Bersell, CEC www.unichef.com

[Pete]

I never had a choice in the matter. My parents owned a restaurant when I was young and I caught the bug then. I tried my hardest to avoid the calling, but I finally had to give in. LOL

[Nick.Shu]

i guess it goes back to when i was a kid - my father knew a lot of chinese chefs and i was forever tagging along behind him inside chinese kitchens and watching the woks flaring off oil and stuff - fascinating.

Eventually after a few years i ended up helping out a local restaurant as pot washer and watching the chefs, i thought "i can do that!", (not to mention that a ex girlfriend told me i would never make it as a chef).

So i did an apprenticeship and trade course, have almost finished a post trade course and iam looking at doing 2 more management diplomas at the time being.

[Chef David Simpson]

Thanks! to you who replied. You know, I love everything about cooking. All the ups and down and never given in to bull#$%% . I've aways thought that this was going to be my life. ever since I was a kid.
I used to watch J. Childs on PBS every day and mimic the way she talked. I remember the first dish I ever made, it was mack and cheese. I added some chedder to it and to this day it's still my favorite.
They say that every soul has it's place on earth and mine belongs in the kitchen. I don't think that I'm the best chef in the world but that doesn't mean that I can't strive to be. If you like what you're doing then that makes life more worth living. Doesn't it?

[This message has been edited by Chef David Simpson (edited October 06, 2000).]

[Nick.Shu]

You know, you should never be ashamed of your start. One of sydneys most favorite chefs started as a virtually illiterate kitchenhand. His restaurant is one of the most in demand restaurants and you can only book ahead 4-5 months.

Not bad huh?

[This message has been edited by Nick.Shu (edited October 07, 2000).]

What made me want to be a chef? Maybe it was my mother's tired old pot roast and my father's faved canned green beans. Maybe it was the lack of onions in the cuisine that made me a teenager. Maybe it was Sister Rita's beef noodle dish she loved to cook and couldn't remember the name of. But most of all I think it was Uncle Vic's gravy that made me crave the kitchen. He'd start the cooking at 8:00 a.m. and end some time around five. He put a little of this and a little of that in the pot till it was just right. When my brother and I got a deer each season, Vic found it was time to make gravy. And that gravy was like no other Italiano's gravy I've ever had. Vic taught me the love of cooking. From his gravy to grean beans to duck in orange sauce. His cornish hens with sausage stuffing cannot be replaced in my menus. A little of this, a little of that and a little of what you like makes love happen.

It was almost 20 years ago. I was going to a local jr college,studying to become a discjockey.The head of the curriculum (a good friend of mine now)told me it was a 1 in a million shot to hit it big in the market i was aiming for. He suggested I follow another route. I signed up for restaurant mgmt.courses at the same school. In doing so, I was required to apprentice at some restaurant for 6 weeks. I was lucky to land a job at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago. Imagine if you will, I couldn't even hold a knife, much less cook. The second week I was there, I was working the omelette station on Mothers Day...Oh my god...the lines of people!

I fell in love with the business.I lasted over 9 months there,and had many great experiences since.

But oh the horror stories I could tell you.

....you already know.

[shroomgirl]

Playing with food and getting paid

Iam like a chef virgin here it seems.
I caught the bug from my mom who is obsessed with food.We used to sit together as a family and plan the menu for the week every Sunday night.
Iam hoping to start schoolin 4 weeks and Iam ready.
Danielle

My start was probably through my parents who were really gourmands. My mother had her Gourmet Magazines and they belonged to a Gourmet Club where people would take turns preparing gourmet meals, Veal Orloff, Salmon Couilbiac, Lobster Stuffed Filets, etc. We were forever going out to eat and my father loved going to Chinatown on Sunday mornings and getting fresh roasted duck, pork etc. Dim Sum on sundays, pizza and subs or deli on saturday nights etc. I used to imagine myself a short order cook and try to make myself a sandwich as fast as I could. Eventually I went into the family business of Electrical Engineering but realized that I wasn't really cut out for it, so I dropped everything went off to culinary school, lost my fiance but gained the knowledge of Grand Cuisine! In this case it was a "fair exchange" (thank you BeBop Deluxe for the line!)

My Start was in the summer of 1976 in a little fine dinning place outside of Phillie.
I was 13 and washing dishes while my sister
was a linecook and mom was a part time Hostess.I guess I really don't know what attracted me but I don't think I could ever do anything else,I tried but just can't hack
9 to 5 and all of the office politics .I still have a long way to go and I think learning is
very much the reason I still cook.Mabey it's
just me, but when I walk on a line I feel at
home.

[This message has been edited by CWK (edited 12-02-2000).]

[Nick.Shu]

i can understand CWK - i think my problem with office work is that i cant sit still.

I was in high school, almost ready to graduate and "they" asked "What are going to do after you graduate?" Since I was Student Gov't Pres., I had to think of something. I got a job in the pantry at the restaurant the local scenic RR stopped at. In the peak leaf season we'd have 500 ppl on the train. I liked the fact that there was always something to do. I was always busy. Not sitting at a desk doing paperwork for 8 hrs a day. I attended J&W and have been in the industry ever since! The office is no place for a "lady" (I use that term very loosely!) like me!!

[momoreg]

Hey, Kitcnmomma, welcome to cheftalk! I went to J&W too '84-'86. When were you there?

Sounds like a great first job. I could never tolerate office work either. Way too boring.