Head Chef Essay Example for Free

Head Chef Essay If I wasn’t told to choose a career now, I wouldn’t have. Although I’ve had the question â€Å"what do you want to be when you grow up† constantly in the back of my mind for the past 4 years, I never really came up with a definite answer. Last September I started the culinary arts program at the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center and since then I’ve realized that I really enjoy cooking so I started to consider being a chef as a career. In order to become an executive or head chef you must have a relevant education, training, and be willing to work hard. With all these attributes getting a position as a chef in a nice restraint is not difficult, and is very rewarding. After doing much research and talking to a few chefs I found out that higher education is not required to become a head chef, but it wouldn’t hurt either. Many people considering becoming a chef as a career decided to go to a culinary college. One of the most well-known culinary institutes is the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. A full academic year at the CIA in 2011-2012 cost $39,440 (CCIA). There is no GPA requirement in order to apply to the CIA but you must have your high school diploma. According to the CIA’s web site before you can start classes it is required that â€Å"you gain relevant experience in one of two ways before enrolling: by working in a non-fast food establishment with a professional kitchen for six months or by completing culinary classes at either the high school or college level† (AR). Although education is important, proper training is even more essential. Some training a chef is expected to have are knife skills, food preparation and sanitation. Training of a chef usually consists of an internship, apprenticeship, or externship, during which time the aspiring chef will work in all areas of the kitchen, mastering all aspects of food preparation. Many culinary colleges have an internship program in place to experience the culinary industry while gaining skills and on the job experience. On top of education and training if you expect to go far as a chef there are certain skills you should have such as; high stamina, organization, flexibility, teamwork, customer focus, and the desire to learn (SPCTP). Chefs work really long days under high pressure and should be able to maintain a clear mind and continue to be productive. A really big part of being a chef has to do with the customers; after all, without them you wouldn’t have a job. â€Å"A good chef knows that customers want fresh, delicious food that’s presented attractively, and does his or her best to make sure that happens for every customer that enters the restaurant† (SPCTP). I did my job shadow with the head chef, Julie, at St. Andrews Place in Port Angeles, WA. When I asked her what the most important skill needed to be good at her job was she said, besides from knowing how to cook, time management. Having been in the culinary arts program and experiencing the pressure of getting done to get what needs to be done, I agree. Time management is a very important skill to have in the culinary industry. Most high schools have a culinary program that you could attend in order to obtain these skills, or you could simply learn through on the job training. A typical day for a head chef is different than that of an executive chef. An executive chef works in more of an office style; leading other chefs, doing more meal planning, and a lot of paperwork. Executive chefs are hardly on the line cooking except occasionally during dinner rush. Head chefs may be involved with the meal planning and some paper work but mostly work in the kitchen the majority of the time. Being a chef means working mornings, nights, weekends, and holidays. â€Å"Depending on the size of the restaurant or establishment, a head chef may arrive as early as 9 a.m. to begin planning the day’s menus and not leave until the dinner rush is over, sometimes at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Most chefs work at least 12-hour days and many times six days a week† (Buchan). Not only is the workday long, but the work itself is hard as well; almost the whole day is spent walking or standing. In order to be a chef you have to love what you do. â€Å"Passion. This is what is going to make all the sacrifice, low pay, and long hours worth it. You have to have a defined, passionate goal; something you want to work towards. And you need to have passion about food and someday being a professional chef. Without true passion, you will never succeed in a restaurant kitchen†. (WIAPK) Being a chef can be a very stressful job and take quite a mental toll as well as physical. Although the work is difficult, the rewards are well worth it. The level of pay for head chefs varies depending on where you work and who you work for. Those who get paid most often work in upscale restaurants and hotels. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, â€Å"the median annual wage of chefs and head cooks was $40,630 in May 2010. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $23,260, and the top 10 percent earned more than $70,960† (CHCP). â€Å"Seventy percent of chefs working for employers reported receiving health care benefits: 69 percent received medical care, 51 percent received dental care and 36 percent received vision care† (SBC). This does not apply to self-employed chefs. Although the pay is decent, if you are going to pursue a career as a chef you shouldn’t do it simply for the money. Being a chef has personally gratifying rewards as well as financial, such as the satisfaction you feel when people love the food you’ve created. The culinary industry is only expected to grow 14% in all occupations between now and 2020 (CHCJO). Although the projected growth isn’t a lot, the culinary industry is always in need of new employees. I feel like this would be a good fit for me because I have many of the skills needed to be successful in the industry already. I have been learning these skills though the Culinary Arts program I have been taking at the North Olympic Skills Center. I have been exposed to customer service, knife skills, food preparation, sanitation, HACCP logs, dish-pit, and have been told by my instructor that I have great time management skills. As you can see, with a proper education, training, and hard work, a career as a chef can be an extremely rewarding experience. The preparation of food is not only a job that satisfies peoples hunger, it is also an art, and the chefs are the artists.

Friday :: Germanic Mythology Language Essays

Friday Every Monday at work, I hear people complaining that they wish it would be Friday already. Everyone waits for this last day of the working week with excitement and eagerness. Friday represents the completion of the week, and at the same time, the beginning of the weekend. The origins of the word "Friday" take their roots from Norse mythology, when this day signified rejuvenation, and at the same time loss, death or completion. In various cultures, this day has numerous meanings and is perceived both positively and with anxiety. The meaning of Friday was preserved through centuries, and today we still use the pagan name of Friday as well as pagan names for other days of the week in the English language. Friday has come a long way from the Anglo-Saxon frigedaeg or from the Old High German Freyja, a goddess of love and fertility. In Germanic mythology Freyja was portrayed as the goddess of youth, beauty, and sexual love. She was married to Odur, but he left her to travel around the world. Afterward, Freyja was depicted weeping, and her tears were drops of gold. Freyja's most famous possession was her necklace, Brising ("necklace of the dwarfs"), given to her by the dwarfs in exchange for her having sexual intercourse with them. Often in myths Freyja is accused of having sexual intercourse with many men and gods. Also Freyja is known as a patron of married couples and "is very fond of love ditties, and all lovers would do well to invoke her," according to the Prose Edda (Mercatante 264). However, besides being the patron of marriage and goddess of fertility, Freyja is portrayed as the goddess of battle and death. She claimed half of the dead warriors killed in battles and received them in her realm of Folkvang. Odur, her husband, received the other half of warriors at Valhalla. The fact that Friday was held sacred to this goddess of fertility and death signifies that inhabitants of ancient England perceived this day as the beginning and at the same time as the completion of their weekly activities, or possibly life. Although in various cultures the meaning of Friday differs, there are numerous similarities, which can be traced down to the common source. In Norse mythology, where paganism dominated religious and cultural settings, Friday was considered to be the day of love and a good day to put a beginning to various activities such as farming or a conception of a child.

Foreshadowing In “The Lottery” Essay

Shirley Jackson depicts a special day, June 27, in the lives of the inhabitants of a small, apparently serene village. The use of foreshadowing is applied extensively to hint to the reader that despite the seemingly festive occasion, there is something morbid about the lottery that causes the people of the town to be uneasy. Jackson foreshadows the ironic conclusion with specific examples and both ominous and tense diction. The earliest indication of the peculiarity of the day’s lottery is the little boys had â€Å"already stuffed [their] pockets full of stones† (422). One knows that a lottery in modern societies definitely does not involve rocks, so the idea that the town’s lottery is much different than the ones known in today’s world is introduced. The fact that the men who begin to gather for the lottery stand â€Å"away from the pile of stones† shows that the stones are not a jovial part of the day’s events (422). These examples give the reader the idea that there is something important, yet shady about the pile of rocks. And although the men told jokes, â€Å"they smiled rather than laughed† (422). If the lottery was a carefree event, the men would have had no problem with laughing. The description of the actions of the group of men creates the impression that the lottery is a serious event which is not about laughing matters. During the lottery, after most of the men had chosen and drawn their scrap of paper, they sat â€Å"turning them over and over nervously† (425). If the lottery was being conducted to give out some sort of reward or prize, they would have seemed eager, not nervous. Jackson also describes the way Mr. Summers and Mr. Adams grin at each other as â€Å"nervously† (425). The repetition of the word nervous reinforces that the lottery is not one of fun and games. In addition, Mrs. Dunbar’s anticipation for Mr. Summers to â€Å"hurry† shows that the lottery is not the type of occasion the people enjoy participating in and would rather get over with quickly (425). Therefore it is obvious that the lottery would not have a pleasant outcome. Instead, the lottery must have some sort of negative outcome that is serious enough to make the entire town nervous. The most significant sign of the abnormal nature of the lottery is the introduction of the â€Å"black box† (422). In most people’s minds the color black is associated with death. When it is revealed that there are scraps of paper in the box, the reader is also exposed to what the box is used for: to hold the papers which the villagers will draw. In essence, the connotation of the color black creates the impression that when the villagers draw from the box, they are drawing for a chance at death. This example foreshadows exactly what will happen when the story concludes. Next Jackson describes the lottery as being a â€Å"ritual† that once involved a â€Å"chant† (423). The connotation of these words also supports the idea that the lottery revolves around death. When one thinks of a ritual, pictures of Ancient Aztec or Mayan sacrifices come to mind. And when one thinks of chanting, images of hooded figures preparing someone for a sacrifice surface. So through the use of ominous nouns and adjectives, Jackson is explicitly stating what is going to happen as a result of the lottery; a human sacrifice is going to take place. Although as the story progresses there is more and more of a feeling of doom, the reader does not become acutely aware of what takes place after the lottery until Mrs. Hutchinson cowers in a corner with the mob approaching her. If one analyzes the color of the box and its purpose, it is possible to predict the outcome of the lottery, but otherwise all other methods of foreshadowing provide the reader with a strong feeling that something disturbing is going to occur.

Chemical Structures Starting with the Letter G