Career Help for a future chef pursuing culinary.

[Sussan ScoolinaryTeam]

Hi Adam.

Welcome to the Scoolinary community!

We are thrilled to hear from you and learn about your beginnings. It’s impressive how you’ve combined your passion for art with your interest in gastronomy. Having a background in advertising arts and an artistic eye for plating gives you a unique advantage in the culinary world. Your experience traveling and exploring different gastronomic cultures is also a great asset, allowing you to understand flavors and techniques on a global scale.

Don’t worry too much about age; the culinary field is one where passion and dedication matter far more than prior experience. You already have a strong creative advantage with your plating skills!

Here are some tips that might help you:

–Focus on mastering the basics: It’s crucial to learn traditional and fundamental cooking techniques, as these are the foundation for any dish, no matter how complex. If you master the basics, you can adapt them to any cooking style or dish you wish to create, and later, you’ll be able to apply your creativity to more intricate dishes. Also, keep an eye on current culinary trends and stay updated, but don’t lose sight of essential techniques.

–Gain practical experience as soon as possible: Taking a part-time job in a kitchen while you study is an excellent idea. It will help you understand the real dynamics of a restaurant kitchen, giving you the chance to apply what you learn in class to real-world situations. Employers look for passion, a willingness to learn quickly, and teamwork. While experience matters, what truly stands out in a recent graduate is attitude, adaptability, and the desire to keep learning. Don’t hesitate to showcase your passion for art and how you can apply it to the kitchen.

–Consider international internships: Europe, the U.S., and Australia offer fantastic learning opportunities, but there are also great options in Asia. Look for internship programs that allow you to develop practical skills and build a valuable network. Don’t worry too much about age; many kitchens value experience and dedication more than age. Deciding where to intern depends on your goals: do you want to master traditional haute cuisine techniques or explore innovative flavors in emerging kitchens?

–Explore other roles within the industry: Besides becoming a chef, your artistic talent can open doors in areas like dish design, restaurant consulting, culinary concept development, or even food photography and styling. Nowadays, many restaurants seek impeccable presentation, both in plating and brand image. You could also delve into culinary brand management or even food technology, where you could apply your graphic and artistic skills to designing culinary experiences.

–Leverage your creativity to stand out: Your artistic background can be a powerful tool to help you shine in the competitive culinary world. Use your graphic skills to create unique, visually appealing dishes—something both diners and employers will greatly appreciate. These skills are also highly valued in the visual presentation of dishes and in creative consulting projects for the food industry.

In summary, keep refining both your artistic and culinary skills, don’t be afraid to seek international opportunities, and make the most of your work experiences. Your combination of artistic talent and culinary passion can take you far.

The best advice I can offer as a culinary graduate is to remind you that this career is about serving others. We work doing what we love most to satisfy and bring happiness to others.

I look forward to hearing from you again in the future and reading about your new culinary adventures. You are going to be an excellent chef because you have a lot of passion, care, and respect for your profession. Remember, we are here to help however we can, so feel free to ask us questions, and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Best regards!

[Adam Julian Redoblado]

Thanks for the advice Sussan,

May I ask if you can get some of your teammates to give their response on this as well?

Hoping to hear from them soon!

[Sol Damiani]

I’m confident @mandie-lowe @cary-burnett @orsolya-csernak @a-augustauskiene @michelle-tarby have some advice, too☺

[Sol Damiani]

Hey there Adam!👋

Welcome to the Scoolinary Community! 😊Join our awesome group of food lovers and share your love of cooking. Everyone’s invited!

I’m Sol Damiani, the Community Builder and I’m from Buenos Aires.

I hope Sussan’s answer helped you. Please let us know if it did. I want to extend my best wishes for your career to be a blast. Your willingness to learn by asking questions is a sign of intelligence.

I’ll bring to this thread other members of Scoolinary Team that may have a lot to say, too: @lorenaScoolinary @emilyscoolinarycom @abigailscoolinary-com

This is a Community that values your participation a lot: that’s why we created “Masters Game”

• Win Scoolipoints by share a pic of your own dishes in our Community > Social Feed section. If it is really cool you can snag a #ScooliStar: you’ll win 100 Scoolipoints and we’ll give you a shoutout on social media!🤩

• 🏆Check out our Challenges and score 250 Scoolipoints! Right now we have the #PizzaSilceChallenge going on. You’ve got till next Sunday, September 15th at 11:59 PM CET to join.

• You’ll see everything you need to know about how to win Scoolipoints here.

Let’s build a community of foodies together.

We hope you have a blast learning with Scoolinary!

[Ryan Finney]

Hi Adam, I’m just hoping I can add a little insight. I would say to get experience in a respectable kitchen ASAP. Not only will it prepare you for what it’s like cooking in a real kitchen but also prepare you for a future intern or externship if your school requires one. It may even be where you end up doing yours if you like the place. Some other benefits are that study as you might, being in a real kitchen is always different. It’s not all cooking and there’s so much more to understand about the whole operation that school can only partially prepare you for. Hearing stories about the chaos, being in the weeds, the top of an oil bottle coming loose and starting a fire during service, etc,etc,etc, they don’t simulate that stuff in any class. There can be a lot of pressure and long hours that come with cooking in higher level restaurants and it’s definitely not for everyone. Find out sooner than later.

As Sussan mentioned, fundamentals are invaluable. If you’re in a proper kitchen and can accomplish tasks without needing the process explained, it will be noticed. Hard work, punctuality, cleanliness, attention to detail all will be noticed. Your station will be noticed. Your attitude will be noticed. Be eager to learn, it will be noticed. Doing things you’re not asked to will be noticed. Save your ideas for when they are asked for and don’t give up the good ones easily. If you start to get in on recipes, then your creativity gets noticed. But like any art, as you know, you have to understand the tools and techniques before you have the freedom to be truly creative without limitation. Given your background, I think If you choose a path outside of restaurants, you have a lot of options. A lot of businesses use food photographers, stylists and things like that for their websites. I think once fully trained and with a broader culinary repertoire you could possibly help restaurants make their food more appealing on the plate or some niche service like that. With social media and everyones faces in a screen these days, we eat with our eyes first more than ever.

If you have an opportunity to do your externship abroad I recommend it. Travel is it’s own education but it’s an immediate new learning experience working somewhere with different ingredients and approaches to food. Try to get a little outside of your comfort zone if you can. Either way, apply to all that you think you would like to learn from and that will challenge you. If you stay where you are you might try to find a place that does a seasonal or oft-changing menu, you could be able to lend your creativity sooner there than at a place that does an established set menu.

I’m also a little curious about this post in general, in that you are in a school and there are usually people there to help you through graduating and job placement. In lieu of that, asking questions in places like this and other culinary forums is a good start but hopefully through the process you may find someone who can mentor and help you network a little, help you hone your focus and direction for after graduation a little more. Best of luck and feel free to message me if you wanna pick my brain a little more.

Ryan

[Sol Damiani]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with Adam and us, Ryan.🙌

I’m sure it’ll be truly helpful for our friend.

I don’t work in the hospitality business, but I can back you up on the mentoring search. (I guess it may apply to life itself). At least it worked for me many times in the many paths I chose. Always having the chance to be guided by someone already inside the area may help a lot, mainly because the world may seem too big and full of options, and it may get a bit confusing.

Wishing you all the luck to you both!

[Adam Julian Redoblado]

Thanks Ryan,

I really appreciate your knowledge and insights on my post. It’s really helpful. I am considering getting a part time job next month so I can get fully immersed in the actual kitchen operations. There’s a nearby restaurant here in our neighborhood and I am hoping they are open to accepting me while I’m pursuing my studies.

I’d like to connect with you through here so I can further explain some more stuff to you. Please accept my request so I can send you a message. Thanks!