Is it worth working as a chef?

Working as a chef gives you more freedom and allows you to be more creative than any other profession. Cooking also encourages you to make adjustments and create new and interesting flavors. Even the recipes are just guidelines, and you can change the proportions and add new ingredients to make a dish your own. Depending on the quality of the food you're able to cook, you'll also have pretty decent job security as a chef.

If you love food and cooking, why not make a career by becoming a professional chef? In addition to job satisfaction, being a chef offers a great career progression from Commis Chef to Demi Chef, then Chef de Partie, Sous Chef, Chef de Cuisine and, finally, executive chef. You also have the option of taking your career to various locations, including restaurants, hotels, resorts, catering companies and corporate events. Twelve-hour days of standing are hard. So is working in an environment that can function as a shelter for sweat.

But it's the injuries in the kitchen that take the cake. One night, I literally burned the pupil in the right eyeball in the middle of a busy service while I was sautéing an entire, tied pigeon that had been fed with corn, says Mike Colameco, kitchen veterinarian and presenter of Real Food with MIke Colameco. I kept all the service and went to the emergency room after my shift, with no days off, I only used eye drops. These people (in this case chefs) can't turn it on or off.

This need to continue striving and committing to your career choice runs through your blood, through your nervous system, and completely engages your active and passive thinking process. Being a chef occupies your mind, body, heart and soul and, as a result, leaves little room for anything else. Chefs who work to achieve balance in their lives have to REALLY work to create this balance, it's not natural. The same goes for doctors, artists, musicians, athletes, nurses, artists and craftsmen.

Being “all inclusive” is the essence of who they are.

Letícia Heling
Letícia Heling

Hardcore bacon evangelist. Total coffee nerd. Certified internet buff. Friendly pop culture buff. Devoted web advocate. Professional twitter enthusiast.