Career as Professional Chef
When we are hungry and delicious looking food is in front of us, then our mouth automatically starts watering demanding to jump start Dining. Quenching the hunger by making delicious food and bringing a happy smile on face of people is the job of chef. 
Now the question that arises are who is a chef? Who can become chef? How to become chef? What kind of future does it holds? How much can earn from it? Now let&rsquos start by answering these questions one by one.
Who is a chef?A chef is a person who has the responsibility of overseeing kitchen and managing it. A chef is responsible for making healthy and delicious food and hence he must overtake responsibility like designing menu, developing original recipes and keeping the kitchen clean and well stocked. These are some basic things that a chef must do. A chef can only maintain his position till people like the food he prepares. Chef are not only makers of good food but also the experts of your health. They undergo rigorous training and experiments to provide you better quality with the taste and nutrients intact. These are some quality of a good chef
Who can become a chef?Any person who has deep interest in preparing food in kitchen, one who likes to cook and eat different dishes. A person continuously experimenting to make new dishes and feels proud in what he makes.
How to become a chef?There are two methods through which one can become a professional chef. First method: It is most difficult and time taking method, one has to start working in hotels as trainee and slowly climb up the ladder to becoming a chef. In the initial stage you would be given small assisting work like cutting the vegetable, moving heavy pots cleaning etc. but these are the things that polish your skills once your skills have reached particular level you will be able to present your skills to the world. Gaining real life experience for years may land you in prestigious hotels.
Second Method: Second and more organized way to do so is by gaining a professional courses like food management and catering, hotel management and so on. There are many small diploma courses also available that teach how to cook. By entering a collage you will learn directly from the chefs. You will be taught about how to make food healthy with nutrition with taste. This method is costly but can give you outlook of world.
What kind of future does it holds?Since food is basic requirement for survival jobs won&rsquot end. There are many jobs that a person aiming to be chef can have like food and nutrition inspector, jobs in food processing industry, jobs in star rated hotels, catering and many more.
What about salary?Salary of chef for initial starter is very low. After few years of experience salary can vary according to your cooking skills. The average salary of a person can reach around 4.5 lakh p.a.
Whenever we want to choose something as a career we always look for good environment where we can work. In career as chef you will have to work 11 hours daily and average 60 hours per week. The stress in theses environment is high but can vary depending on work place.
Many institution and work place kitchens contain up to date equipment suitable for work, proper air conditioning and exhaust facilities. However the older and smaller kitchen may not that suitable to work on and safety measures might be compromised. Chefs have to work continuously work in a place where heat from stove and ovens are continuous, so a person with weak resistance may not be able withstand the pressure.
Restaurants working condition differ according to amount of food they prepare and type of food they prepare with geographical location. Workers typically must endure the strain and tension of standing for several straight hours, moving heavy pots and kettles, and functioning around hot apparatus. Restaurant work schedule may require undesirable amount of you early morning time, late evening and even holidays. In a situation where a large number of customers come to eat at restaurant for morning lunch and late night dinner, in this situation the chef must prepare late night dinner and even might be asked to prepare for morning since the preparation must be done before hand to provide everyone the morning breakfast.
Even after doing that you may have to continuously create new dishes and even study about the chemical structure of food you prepare and about how much time can it remain fresh. Learning which components and spices can give better aroma and taste is most important and this can only be learned from experience. Most of the Starter chefs do some of the basic mistakes like they do not preplan for next day schedule or when will stock end or to clean utensils properly. You may not get a reward trophy like in most sports or any other profession but the most awarding and joyous moment for chef is that when a person says their food was good and they would be expecting the same when thy will come next, this is the moment when all the hard work the chef has put into making the dish becomes successful. Just seeing people enjoy your food with smile becomes a trophy none can replace.