Cooks in India

There was an era in India when cooking was entirely a womans job. But today in the modernizing country, cooking is not bound within the walls in ones home and kitchen. Cooking is now a respected profession that presents diverse arenas and is statistically dominated by men more than women.

At present, in India, cooking has evolved as a profession and, more importantly, as a passion. This career offers lots of challenges along with rewarding opportunities. If you are looking to achieve greater heights as a chef or cook in India, formal education is mandatory. To begin as a cook in India, getting a degree or diploma in culinary arts, food production or catering technology is a stepping stone. There are various courses offered in the country, such as certificate courses and diploma in food and beverage science, hotel and hospitality management, bachelors and post-graduate diploma in culinary arts and home science. A bachelor in hotel management followed by a higher post-graduate degree goes a long way; especially when you have a goal of becoming high-end chef such as Sanjeev Kapoor, Gordon Ramsay or Atul Kocchar.

The next step is to find a good institute offering the desired course. The main advantage of selecting a good institute is that they provide superior facilities, faculty and training, which are necessary for a proper guidance and in-depth knowledge of the field. Additionally, there are many institutes that are operated by reputed hotel chains and private institutes with foreign affiliations and approvals from the All India Council for Technical Education. The courses offered by reputed hotel chains, such as The Taj Group and Oberoi, can be very helpful because of the future prospects they offer.

After pursuing education, cooks in India are required to work as an intern for apprenticeship. But, once you enter the world of food and restaurant industry, there are rows of success ladder to take your career to higher levels. For cooks in India, career begins as a commi chefs—also called assistant chefs or cooks. Cooks eventually become Chef de Partie, followed by the position of Sous Chef aka kitchen in-charge. The next and top-most position one can attain is of Executive Chef or Head Chef. For cook job work in India, the pay begins from Rs. 10,000 for an intern. Whereas, executive chef—after experience of 5 to 7 years earn up to Rs. 1 Lac per month. Additionally, there are always good opportunities and incentives for cooks in India. The scope for this profession is brighter in India. After years of hard-work and experience, you can also invest into opening up your own restaurant or publish a cook book.

But academic degrees are not the only key to unlock the doors to cook job work in India. Passion plays a critical role. If you are crazy about food, there is nothing that can deprive you from serving happiness. However, being a chef is not a cake walk. It demands culinary skills, creativity, multitasking abilities, keen attention to details, team work, hygienic prospects and fast decision making process. There are multiple tasks a chef/cook has to perform in routine life. Planning and creating menus, preparing food as per customer’s requirements and plating it the right away are the key roles chefs need to play. They are also responsible for ensuring inter-department coordination in commercial kitchens, procurement and proper storage of materials required for cooking are considered by chef for a daily kitchen analysis. Additionally, cook job work in India also demands for a chef or cook in India to interact with their patrons or customers. Management of the kitchen staff and supervising presentation of food and multiple such factors should be addressed by a chef on a timely basis.

For cooks in India, there are no limits today. There are numerous opportunities offered as a part of cook job work in India. Food is omnipresent, and so are chefs! Many industries are hiring cooking experts and passionate chefs. Along with hotels and restaurants, cruises, corporate and air catering, food industries offer wider career prospects and enriched kitchen experiences.

Being a chef or a cook is really exciting. Right from enhancing a dish to creating a brand new innovative menu and presenting—or plating—your culinary skills on a plate is all very glamorous. But there are pros and cons to every aspect. A chef’s profession demands a full dedication, discipline and persistence to your passion. It includes long working hours, great stamina—as most of the work involves standing for undecided period—and creative mindset. Nevertheless, efficiency of a chef is often identified by the type of cuisine he/she excels in; presenting a dish in the right way and quality of the food offered to customers are also very crucial factors that play a role to achieve a successful cook job work in India. Today, cooks in India are required to be familiar with international cuisines to add that extra touch to their blooming profession and to recipes. French, Chinese, Continental and Italian are few of the cuisines cherished by people and cooks in India. In our advancing country, cooking is no more symbolized as a woman’s thing. List of seasoned and most renowned chefs include men more than women.

With the blooming food and beverage industry, employment of new upcoming chefs is on the rise. There was a time where chefs were underrated in India; however, today, the ratio of chefs to servers in the kitchen of hotels is 1:1. The growth and future of the profession is thus plenty and promising.