career as a culinologist / research chef

[laci]

Originally Posted by kuan

I'm not a research chef, I just know a few.

On one end of the spectrum there are chefs, on the other end are food scientists. We all know what chefs do, but what do food scientists do? Food scientists develop products like canned soup, dried pasta, cereal, and fruit snacks. Sometimes they take "regular" food like pulled pork and figure out a way to package it in a convenient way so consumers can "heat and eat," and sometimes they create whole new foods such as fruit rollups. They sometimes figure novel ways to reinvent certain standards such as PB&J sandwiches (uncrustables) or figure out a way to make microwave caramel popcorn.

A research chef's job can be anything between a chef and a food scientist. At some companies, for example, research chefs are solely responsible for developing gold standard items. Chicken Cordon Bleu, Fettucine Alfredo, and so on. They work with food scientists on formulation and scale up work in order to make it feasable on a large scale. Sometimes this can take many many iterations. In this case, research chefs are may be responsible for prototypes, testing prototypes with various consumer groups, and reformulating prototypes before the products get scaled up.

At the other end of the spectrum, research chefs with degrees in food science and culinary arts may be directly responsible for the large scale production formulation of food products. This is normally the job of a food scientist, but companies are now realizing that scientific knowledge isn't sufficient to produce good tasting and wholesome prepackeged ready to eat foods. In this case, the research chef may have to be familiar or even certified under FDA or USDA guidelines. In otherwords, they have to understand how to package food so they don't kill anyone!

Then there's a whole lot of in between. Some research chef duties might stop at large scale production formulation, some might just do small scale recipe formulation for places like the Olive Garden or Applebees. Whatever you choose, there's a large market out there for chefs with food science degrees. The higher the food science degree the better.

Sometimes I don't get to post much but if you're patient I'll try and respond to any other questions you may have.

Thanks for your informative reply. Small scale recipe formulations for industrial customers or the foodservice sector sounds very interesting. Do all restaurants have such personnel, or is it limited to Olive Gardens and Applebee's? Is there a directory where I could locate such companies?

Thanks,
Laci.

[laci]

Originally Posted by Angel Eyes

Hi Laci
This does not pertain to your question, just curious is you moms name Robin?
Lives in Alabama, I'm her friend in Washington, if you are her , just hi,its a small world

No, it must be a different Laci...

[mrdelicious]

Hello Everyone!

It think everyone makes a good point; however, everyone seems to forget the patron saint of everything we do -- and -- her message....

EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT... EAT THE DELCIOUS FOOD ... AND EAT!

Julia Child alwasy said, eat, but in small portions. Fat is important in any diet, but if you eat two slices of wonderful bacon, not two pounds the impact on your life/body will be significantly different.

Do you know why some people slice hamburgers in half? Julia only ate half of her favorite meal... and shared or brought the other half home....

Me, on the othe hand, I eat half and then eat the other one.... it's easier that way... that's why I'm so fat! Just cut the friggin burger in half and eat some salad!!! Sheeeeze, I love those burgers... I'll just eat the whole thing... that's the problem.... So... SMALL PORTIONS!!! That's the secret!

Mr. D.

[kuan]

Originally Posted by laci

Thanks for your informative reply. Small scale recipe formulations for industrial customers or the foodservice sector sounds very interesting. Do all restaurants have such personnel, or is it limited to Olive Gardens and Applebee's? Is there a directory where I could locate such companies?

Thanks,
Laci.

Well, no companies actively list all their positions. The Research Chef Association will have job listings. Recruiters also may know of some. RCA is the way to go. They've grown quite large in the last few years.

I have to emphasize education. If you're interested mainly in the chef side of things, then it will do you well to get a bachelor's degree in food science and an AA in culinary arts. If you intend on being significantly involved in large projects upwards of $100M/yr, then an advanced degree is absolutely necessary.

[gus20]

Hello,,

Im going to Australia in some months, and I have been checking about food science. I really like it. I can read about food many hours and I like tasting much. I have been taking som maths, chemistry and biology courses, and Im good at it, specially at maths. Some of my friends,tell me, are you a cook? I dont know why people think cooks are silly and just can cook, and cant be at maths, cant be good in redaction and know about economics. I think food science studies will be my next step. Now im studying english for getting my IELTS test. Do you know any webpage where we can find people who wokr in this? who work tasting food for big companies like knor, krafts. It must be interesting and great job. Kind regards. Any advice?

Hugs!
Gustavo

[Gail@Flavours]

Re the Research Chef seminar at George Brown College in Toronto on October 26th, here's the link to the site at the University of Guelph (Guelph Food Technology Centre) where you can get more info on the full-day seminar, and register online:

http://www.gftc.ca/coursereg/details...a28e7e35252314

It sounds like it ought to be a fascinating seminar (I'm signed up for it). It'll give you more insight into the field and you'll get to network with the lecturers and other people in the industry. It will also give you the opportunity of check out the George Brown Chef School (from which I graduated with a Culinary Management diploma in 1999, I might add).