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Posted: 2/24/2008 11:27:24 AM | after almost 10 years of my life i have given up the life of a chef to look at other areas i can work with
hasent stopped my love of food..if anything it has increased it cause now i have more time to experiment :P
so i pose this to you foodies
with the rubbish money...awful hours...the heat and the stress...at the end of the day..is it really worth it :) | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 11:40:56 AM | | Other than slinging over pizza ovens long ago, I don't have much experiance in the restaurant field. I do however enjoy learning in my own kitchen, Definatly many experiment's..lol. I do know people with the hrs and stress, is it worth it, have to ask them, I do know they love what they accomplish at the end of the day.. | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 11:55:38 AM | | Do what you love. What you love, you will do well. Very few people actually get to make any kind of living doing what they love. If I were you, I'd keep at it. | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 11:57:54 AM | OP, only you can answer this.
Is it a passion for you ???
Did any of your previous jobs within the industry allow for personal creativity ???
Did the hours drag or fly by ???
Money is irrelevant if you enjoy what you are doing.
You may consider starting up a private catering company which may enable you to eventually have a little more flexibility regarding hours worked.
Otherwise a career change may be in order. | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 12:03:08 PM | | I love food and that is why I didn't persue a career as a chef. | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 12:32:54 PM | Two things:
1. HEY MODERATOR: TAKE OFF THE "DELETE THIS POST.. IT MIGHT BE INAPPROPRIATE BOX" It isn't. It's a REALLY good question that is understood by true foodies. it's a query to the universe.
2. re: "with the rubbish money...awful hours...the heat and the stress...at the end of the day..is it really worth it :)"
I think you described the undervalued field of foods very well! Only if you are driven by passion for it, can you endure what you describe. If the passion is there, then you go forth and do in spite of all the hardships that come along with the calling .. . I suspect you will do something else for money for a while and then find you can't live without it and come back. UNLESS you are able to create that web of friends who live and breathe for foodie things and can use your social life to fill the void.
Sign me off as ruafoodie on another network!  | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 12:58:37 PM | Never know hun! You could be another Chef Gordon, cept maybe don't swear quite like he does! lol
You have to do something you like, love even. If you truly have a great love for cooking you may wish to re-think your decision. I hope all works out well for you! | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 1:03:02 PM | It seems to be like any other of the creative professions... the creative will work at it, profit from it, even enjoy it. The true artists of the genre, whatever it may be, quietly experiment and create masterpieces in a dank garret (physically or philosophically) and share them sparingly, and covertly spread that art into the hands of the slightly lesser craftsmen.
Look at it as artist versus craftsman. The skills and abilities are the same to get to the finished product. The craftsman may create a product, the artist designs it.
Is working as a foodie worth it? Having done it twice, yes- it allowed me to learn new skills and techniques, have a set to teachers that I would not have access to any other way, and learn the CRAFT part of it so I could enjoy the design part- and I'm a long way off from even aspiring to adequate at that. | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 1:03:14 PM | | Delete post will dissapear eventually. OP, Your young, Don't blame you for trying something different, Always have being a chef to fall back on. Loving what you do is important. Took me a few years to find the right ocupation for me.. | |
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Posted: 2/24/2008 6:06:15 PM | | I got out of my profession for a period of time because I got really burned out and needed to be away from it. Eventually after trying my hand in something else, my former career beckoned me back. I found I really came to the point where I realized there is nothing else I want to do! To make a long story short, I just moved back to Texas after being away for 14 years. I moved here to go back to work for my former employer who I've always enjoyed working for (who also gave me a big promotion). I wish you luck and hope things work out. Whatever is the right occupation for you will work itself out! As another poster said, at least you can always fall back on being a chef! | |
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Posted: 2/25/2008 6:06:58 AM | thanx for all the replies guys they all make sense to me in my head
i loved what i did and time away will be great i think.
you defo gave me something to think about thnx :P | |
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Posted: 2/25/2008 11:35:00 AM | | Having spent 16 or more years in the business myself, that's a question I've posed to myself on more than a few occasions. I've even left the business a couple times, though I've always come back to it. It's definitely a harder life than most when you think about how little many of us get paid compared to how hard we work, but it comes with a certain sense of pride and satisfaction when you think about the fact that very few people could do what we do. I think you'll take some time away, be very thankful to get away from all the heat and clatter, and then eventually decide that you really do miss it and make a return with new energy. I've always said that you can take the cook out of the kitchen but you can't take the kitchen out of the cook. | |
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Posted: 2/27/2008 6:37:17 AM | I was a caterer for 17 yrs and spent one summer as a chef. There is nothing in this world that could make me go back to working in the food industry. It took something I loved and made me hate thinking about it. I mean the job, not my catering. I did my catering as a second job and chose the events I wanted, so I had fun, but that is the hardest work in the world. I don't know how you feel about it, but it seems that you have finally done what you want to do, leave the restaurant business. The demands are inhuman, you can't have a life and the working conditions are grueling. You may want to operate your own little bistro, lunch cafe, or whatever, or like me, pursue your other creative talents. Of course, running a restaurant can be just as consuming, unless you are successful enough to get others to do it.
I have worked in the medical field all of my life and went back to school to become a nuclear med tech. For electives, I took the classes that I have done as a hobby all of my life...architectural design. I did have a business for a while designing dental offices and Victorian home additions, but it wasn't my main source of income. I recently discovered that I must be crazy going right back into a different job in medicine, when I am so happy designing and I already have customers and I don't graduate the program until this May.
Sometimes for some of us, it just takes a while before we believe we can actually do what makes us happy and people with many loves and interests can really have a hard time discovering it.
Take time to look and discover what makes you smile to be doing it everyday and what allows you to really have the life you want. Maybe you need to find out what is the life you want. Don't rush. It is never too late to discover the right thing. And like I have discovered, don't let the amount of $$ you think you are going to make, be your deciding factor. Life should bring joy, not the $$. | |
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Posted: 10/18/2008 4:35:40 AM | aaaaaaand im back after a while off POF and the trade :P
after some time off the trade ive somehow been reeled back in :S lol
but im loveing my job im currently head chef for an oil firm and been offerd the executive position so its looking up :P
but thought i would give this post CPR to say thanks for your words and it looks like some of you were right lol i owe you a drink ;) | |
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