Have you ever thought of being a chef, restaurant manager, or anything in the culinary field? High school students must consider schooling options, helpful tips for future chefs, and even provide advice for future students going into the field. There are many careers in the culinary field such as different types of chefs, managers, or even working in hospitality. 

If you are interested in culinary arts, a great place to start would be taking a culinary arts class in high school. Glenbard North has many great culinary classes to offer such as Culinary Arts 1 and 2, Gourmet Foods, and Nutrition and Fitness, a P.E. class that offers some topics on the nutrition aspects of culinary. 

Here at Glenbard North, Melissa VanDerLaan, culinary arts teacher, and Carole Gebka, school counselor, offered some advice on what to do if you are wanting to go into the culinary field. VanDerLaan says, “If you want to get your hands on food then you need to get a job in that kitchen.”  She also reminds students that it is important to get to know the community and really see if you can handle working in a restaurant. Another piece of advice given by Gebka is to “get experience somehow, shadow, internship, or maybe take a class at College of DuPage” and make sure you get experience before starting your career in the culinary field.

One way to get experience is through the program at the Technology Center of DuPage (TCD) where students can earn high school and college credits and get hands-on experience in their field. As far as cooking and baking, TCD offers a Professional Cooking and Baking course, which is a two year certification course as a program for students interested in going into the field of culinary or hospitality. Throughout the program, chefs will cover topics such as kitchen basics, cooking skills, baking skills, and professional service and employment skills. Another benefit of joining this program is that you can obtain many certifications including ServSafe Food Handler, ServSafe Food Allergen, ServSafe Manager Certificate, SP2 Certifications, and ProStart Professional (National Restaurant Association) Certificate of National Achievement. With these certifications you would be able to serve food, work at a restaurant and even open up a food truck or business of your own. 

Besides going to TCD, the next step for students interested in pursuing a career in the culinary arts would depend on what they want to do specifically in the culinary field. There are schooling options such as culinary school, culinary certificate programs, business management programs, or hospitality programs. If you are aiming to be a chef, then you would need to go to culinary school and get a degree in culinary arts. If you wanted to do more of a family and consumer science job such as being a culinary teacher, you would need to go into an education program and have culinary arts inserted into your education. To get more experience, a great option is to start working at a restaurant to get a feel for what your career could potentially be and to be able to get your foot in the door in order to achieve your future career goals. 

With the exciting things that come with culinary, there also are some challenges. Being a chef can be hard in many ways when it comes to efficiency and it can also be physically demanding. One of the challenges is having to work when others may be off such as on holidays, or other special occasions depending on where you work and what you do. For example, in a bakery you would have to work different hours like in the early mornings to prepare bread or other things that the bakery may need. While trying to accomplish your career, it also can be hard to get your foot in the door and actually find a job to start out at. Another thing that will be difficult would be that you have to be prepared to start at the bottom and be able to take criticism. Along with working long hours, the pay may not be the best in the beginning when just starting out in a restaurant. Lastly, with a lot of hard work comes a lot of stress and you have to be able to handle that stress in your career.

People interested in going into culinary have many options to choose from when it comes to a specific career. Not only are there many options but there are many resources in our local community that can help you decide and help you succeed in your specific career. To end, just know that although there are challenges that may be difficult to overcome, you can get through those obstacles by being optimistic and working hard to achieve your goals!