[foodpolice]

Hello, all.
Currently a police officer.
Taking off the badge in a few months and going to cooking school. Why, you ask? Many reasons:

1. Hollandaise can't shoot at you.
2. In a kitchen, only the wine is half your age, and it doesn't want to kick your butt.
3. There are no sergeants in a kitchen. It's just you and The General, and perhaps his adjunct.
4. You don't have to wait six months until the trial to find out you missed something important.
5. A duty belt and body armor weigh about 35 lbs. Nuff said.
6. Navy blue 16 lb wool uniform on a hot summer's day? Whose idea was that!?
7. People will complain for almost any reason, but you have to darn near save their lives to get a compliment. Chefs don't usually stir up that sort of passion.
8. An minor error in the kitchen costs the price of a comped meal. An minor error in police work keeps lawyers and the internal affairs people employed.
9. You never have to play "good chef, bad chef."
10. Food service people don't have to read a legal warning before asking questions.
11. Nobody points to that deadly weapon a chef is always carrying, and asks "have you ever had to use that?"
12. Nobody ever asks a chef "shouldn't you be out looking for real criminis?"
13. In police work -nothing- ever smells good.
14. Chefs don't stand over a pile of dead meat and crack gallows jokes to keep from crying.
15. Liberals generally don't treat chefs like crap, unless the chef is serving foie gras, perhaps.
16. You'll never see a bumper sticker that says "bad chef, no brioche."
17. Cops do their jobs and ruin peoples days. Chefs do their jobs and ruin peoples diets.
18. Nobody ever complains about the way Mario Batali looks. If a cop gains a few pounds, though, everyone jokes about it.
19. A chef doesn't have to spend all day surrounded by criminals, unless he is one, and gets caught.
20. Chef's don't have to remember who gets the goldenrod copy and who gets the pink.
21. Cops don't even get discount coffee anymore. Chefs eat for free.
22. As a chef, I won't kick myself when one of my boys follows in my footsteps, like my dad did when I followed his.
23. I'll have to wear a hat to keep my hair out of the food. At least I'll get to HAVE hair.
24. A chef can someday aspire to own his own establishment. A cop will always have to answer to somebody.
25. Chefs are seldom issued rain gear and riot helmets.
26. When a cop brings his work home, it leads to alcoholism, domestic violence and divorce. When a chef brings his work home, it leads to...well, lets just say I can't wait to find out.
27. If a chef made a funny video about his profession, the mayor of San Francisco wouldn't hold a press conference to denounce it.
28. Chefs may become famous, but cop's best hope is to not become infamous.
29. If you can't stand being the heat, GET IN THE KITCHEN!
30. BECAUSE I CAN!

[Nicholas]

Hello and welcome!
I liked 1,2,13 and 18.

[Nicko]

Welcome if you have any questions please contact one of the moderators.

[panini]

foodpolice,
Welcome to ChefTalk!!
I would first like to say, thank you for doing what you have done, even though your leaving.
I hope your transition is a smooth one.
I understand about the tradition and brotherhood. I come from a family of firefighters and police in NY. I opted out and left for this field immediately and was the black sheep. Have been for 39 yrs. All of your listed reasons is the reason for losing contact with so much family. I just did not have the energy to listen to that list every phone call or visit.
Most of us here 'locker' our guns before posting. There are no stupid questions here.
I just wanted to respond to some of your great reasons.
7. This also may be true in food. Some chefs are very reluctant to give kudos and sometimes take all the credit. sometimes.
8. As you work your way up, which I'm shure you will. You may encounter this.
11. There are some irratating Questions. Like, did you really make that?
13. Good training. If you smell something from the past, you may not want to serve it.
22. I spout the same thing for my 14 yr old
24. I capitalized on this 13 yrs. ago. and love it. If it's in the cards for you, don't waste too much time.
I praise you for makinf this huge decision. The very best of luck to you. Take full advantage of the search options to look at pasts threads. I'm pretty sure that almost everything has been covered.
I'm certainly not going to tell you that the 'sweet side/pastry breads' of the
of the kitchen is better, but, it is.
Panini

[Mezzaluna]

Let me add my welcome to Chef Talk Foodpolice. Thank you for your service as a police officer. No matter what comes next you can always say you made a difference in the world.

Good luck in your quest to be a chef! We'll look forward to your posts and participation here.

Regards,
Mezzaluna

[Mikeb]

"6. Navy blue 16 lb wool uniform on a hot summer's day? Whose idea was that!?"

Compared to a 100+ degree kitchen during service (you can cook an egg on the hot line counter), in whites that aren't 16 pounds, but are still pretty heavy fabric.

"8. An minor error in the kitchen costs the price of a comped meal. An minor error in police work keeps lawyers and the internal affairs people employed."

You've got to watch out for food allergies, bacteria, etc..., which can make people pretty sick...

"9. You never have to play "good chef, bad chef.""

I've seen it...

"15. Liberals generally don't treat chefs like crap, unless the chef is serving foie gras, perhaps."

Generally food service people are somewhat 'liberal' politically (or non-political), however the PETA-types have plenty of complaints. Foie gras, caviar, chocolate and tropical fruits (since child labour and slavery are sometimes involved in the harvesting), rare species of fish, birds and game, raw milk cheese, baby animals of all kinds (veal, lamb, squab, poussin, suckling pig), not to mention working with live shellfish that we need to kill (which they will argue is 'inhumane'). Then theres all the low-fat diet people, the no-starch Atkins diet people, etc... And finally, when you think you're in the clear, someone's going off about using too many luxury ingredients, malnutrition among poor people while the rich feast, that our prices are too high (not knowing the economics involved in the business, and that most cooks are 'poor'), etc...

"19. A chef doesn't have to spend all day surrounded by criminals, unless he is one, and gets caught."

Wrong. This depends alot on where you work, but I've been around quite a few criminals in the kitchen... Not to mention drug use is rampant in the industry (mostly just marijuana, however some also use cocaine, prescription drugs, etc...)

"26. When a cop brings his work home, it leads to alcoholism, domestic violence and divorce. When a chef brings his work home, it leads to...well, lets just say I can't wait to find out."

Unfortunately, many chefs also turn to alcoholism, which in turn leads to worse... I've worked with chefs who get hammered on the job, throw things at servers in a drunken rage, etc...

Anyhow, welcome to the profession.