Can a Culinary Arts Certificate Lead to Career in Culinary Media?

Is it wrong to want to do something less like grunt kitchen work and more like culinary journalism, real culinary journalism? The stories behind the food are tremendously fascinating and I think that readers and viewers think this as well. Now, you might be thinking, “Oh, you just want to skip all the hard work and become a chef or something.” At this point, I’m not so sure that’s what I want.

I love cooking, don’t get me wrong, but I find the glamor associated with being a chef incredibly obnoxious and the industry itself to be very two-faced. Allow me to explain myself. In the short time that I’ve been involved in the culinary line of work I’ve found a sharp cleave between the workers who silently get most of the job done and the chefs, sous chefs, and unfortunately, sometimes journalists who pretentiously talk about the work being done as if it was only they who did it.

Real Culinary Journalism

On the subject of culinary journalism, I find the idolization of chefs and sous chefs to be an unfortunate misrepresentation of the industry. Why not mention the saucier by name, and perhaps ask him a few questions about the magnificent shallot red wine reduction that was served with your perfectly grilled hanger steak. Wouldn’t that make the story of the food a bit more real?

In my opinion it’s poor journalism to write as if it was the chef and only the chef who constructed your entire meal. There are so many people who have a hand in the creation of each component of the meal, from the back prep workers to that magnificent saucier, what’s wrong with giving them a little credit and recognition every once in a while. They may have helped the chef to create the menu or at least the part of the menu for which they would be responsible. Those people may have even been working at the establishment longer than the chef, or may have years more experience than that young sous chef (who for some strange reason got the title first, but they’re not bitter because they love what they do so much).

So what does all of this mean. I’m still struggling with a conclusion to this mental discourse. Honestly, after only the first week and a half of working at the Hyatt and at Ventana at the same time I’m exhausted and feeling burned out. Today I told Brian that I don’t even know if this is what I want anymore, but if this isn’t it I don’t really know what is. I think that I want to be involved in culinary journalism, but is working in restaurants the right path to that career goal? And how do I get a job with respectable journalistic outlets that will allow me to report the real stories behind the food and maybe do some cooking too? Do you ever have those questions that run through your head over and over and over and if you don’t write them down or ask someone you just make yourself crazy, yeah these are mine. So now you’re involved in the thoughts that make me crazy, and until one of us is able to answer them I suppose I’ll just keep working, hard.