mtnbiker, I like to talk about myself as much as the next guy, but haven't you got anything better to do than asking for the details of my life? When I put a post up on Zionism I don't hear anything from you, but when I put a post up talking about my life, you act like I have to verify my sources.
You asked, so I'll answer, but you are trying my patience.
Maybe they did take me because I'm cheap. I had to wait for almost a year for them to let me work for them because there were that many people in line. For obvious reasons, there are very few who do a "stage" for more than three months. In the kitchen where I was working, there were two cooks for every seat in the dining room. All but a few were working for free, and they were all very very talented cooks. So maybe they took me because I was cheap.
I left school with a double major in literature and philosophy. Neither of which is worth anything if you don't go on to get your doctorate, and if it's not from one of the four best schools in the country then it still isn't worth anything. I was burned out from being in the class room for four years, and my grades weren't good enough to get me into a top program anyway. I wanted to produce something more substantial than theory, and in the end cooking fit the bill. I didn't go to culinary school because early on, I'd worked with people who had gone to culinary school. Most of them said flat out that the $32,000 debt they'd accrued was not worth the learning experience they'd gotten, a significant portion of which included going to a privately owned restaurant for six months and working for free. After two years steady work in good restaurants, I was as good or better than the fresh culinary school grads that had just paid 32,000 for their training. And then, if they ever want to be good, they have to go out and do what I'd already spent two years doing: they too have to go out and build resumes with the best chefs they can.
Maybe you thought than becoming a good cook was as easy as two years at a culinary school? I have a good friend who was in his second year of culinary when I started working in my first good restaurant. When I left my last job in the US to come to Europe, he came in to take my position. I'm not saying I'm a better cook than he is, but he isn't any better off than I was either.
I hope that clears things up for you. If you are generally interested in cooking, go read Anthony Bourdain's Confessions of a Chef. His experience wasn't very similar to mine, but it's a good read, and an accurate presentation of the demands and pressures of being a cook in top restaurants. If you are actually interested in becoming a cook, read Becoming a Chef by Durenburg and Page. If you just want to bust sombody's balls, go fuck yourself.
Bry.
You asked, so I'll answer, but you are trying my patience.
Maybe they did take me because I'm cheap. I had to wait for almost a year for them to let me work for them because there were that many people in line. For obvious reasons, there are very few who do a "stage" for more than three months. In the kitchen where I was working, there were two cooks for every seat in the dining room. All but a few were working for free, and they were all very very talented cooks. So maybe they took me because I was cheap.
I left school with a double major in literature and philosophy. Neither of which is worth anything if you don't go on to get your doctorate, and if it's not from one of the four best schools in the country then it still isn't worth anything. I was burned out from being in the class room for four years, and my grades weren't good enough to get me into a top program anyway. I wanted to produce something more substantial than theory, and in the end cooking fit the bill. I didn't go to culinary school because early on, I'd worked with people who had gone to culinary school. Most of them said flat out that the $32,000 debt they'd accrued was not worth the learning experience they'd gotten, a significant portion of which included going to a privately owned restaurant for six months and working for free. After two years steady work in good restaurants, I was as good or better than the fresh culinary school grads that had just paid 32,000 for their training. And then, if they ever want to be good, they have to go out and do what I'd already spent two years doing: they too have to go out and build resumes with the best chefs they can.
Maybe you thought than becoming a good cook was as easy as two years at a culinary school? I have a good friend who was in his second year of culinary when I started working in my first good restaurant. When I left my last job in the US to come to Europe, he came in to take my position. I'm not saying I'm a better cook than he is, but he isn't any better off than I was either.
I hope that clears things up for you. If you are generally interested in cooking, go read Anthony Bourdain's Confessions of a Chef. His experience wasn't very similar to mine, but it's a good read, and an accurate presentation of the demands and pressures of being a cook in top restaurants. If you are actually interested in becoming a cook, read Becoming a Chef by Durenburg and Page. If you just want to bust sombody's balls, go fuck yourself.
Bry.
