I thought I’d take my blog along a different path this term, and give you an insight into what the life of a typical chef involves.
We’ve all seen the shows, read the glamorous magazines, watched Heston create some amazing, obscure meal that probably took hundreds of man-hours to create. But is this reality? Not even close.
At 16 years old I got my apprenticeship. Straight away I said goodbye to my weekends, public holidays, and pretty much every major social event that popped up. I worked split-shccsc (10am to 10pm), scrubbed pots, peeled potatoes and deep-fried everything you could imagine. TAFE was a fantastic experience, because instead of the monotonous daily tasks we actually got to create and cook like real chefs. The pay was terrible, and no one could understand why I wanted to do it.
Amidst all this, it was a very satisfying job. I finished my apprenticeship and took off overseas (another major draw- card for the industry). On my return, I took a job at a five star small luxury hotel. We made everything from scratch; pasta, jams and chutneys, soups, cakes and even sourced cheese from France. It truly was a great experience … however, on my third Christmas working from 7am until 10pm, I decided it was time to search for something with more sensible hours.
A few jobs later I found myself as Head Chef in charge of 25 staff with a modern menu I had created. I still worked long hours, still worked public holidays and still occasionally found myself in the dish room scrubbing pots. Once my first little one arrived it was clear this lifestyle was no longer sustainable. I love to cook and create, but there had to be a balance out there somewhere.
I love my job. I feel incredibly lucky to have found a positive working environment and a strong team who make the day-to-day work such an enjoyable experience. I still get to cook and create and talk directly to my “customers”, but I also get to go home for dinner and see my children grow up.
I hope I haven’t turned off any budding young chefs out there, because even though it is a long road with plenty of hard work, it can take you wherever you want to go on the planet. Australian chefs are highly regarded and sought after and at the end of the day, people will always need to eat.
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