Cooking is an art. It is transformational and a wonderful hobby. As a hobby, it has the potential to lead one to one’s dream job. Cooking began when civilization began. One cooks to survive. But does one realize that in present times cooking can also be practiced as a leisure activity which will ultimately help one in acquiring a dream job. Fast-food culture is becoming popular all over the world. People across the world are also showing great interest in multiple cuisines such as Medieval, Indian, Italian, and many more. Restaurants chains have experienced mushrooming growth. Such an outline convinces one that a bright future awaits those with great culinary skills.
Here and now one does comes across people, who pursue cooking as their prime hobby. When one is dedicated to cooking, then one can secure huge success in this field. There are many career options available. One of which is Chefs and Head chefs. One can open one’s food outlet, food truck, or a restaurant. There are also many cafes and five-star restaurants that hire cooks with particular specializations and offer big paycheques. Not just in India but there is a huge requirement for skilled chefs abroad. By working as a chef, one can do what one loves, that is, cooking and make a good deal of money.
Another career option available is that of Bakers. In today’s times, bakery products such as biscuits, cakes, bread and buns, candies and muffins are not just popular, but they are also been consumed globally on a very large-scale. One can acquire a baker’s job in a reputed firm. Another possible option is to open one’s own business and establishing a small-scale bakery industry and expand it gradually by incoming profits. Retail and sales of bakery products and food distribution may also be pursued.
Being a Cookbook Author is a reputed career choice available for culinary artists. By sharing one’s secret recipes one can become popular among the masses. By writing cookbooks or by creating blogs about ingredients, recipes, and techniques a cookbook author can become a motivation, instructing learners, and become a great success.
Cooking is one of the significant parts of Home Science education which is taught as a discipline at various schools. One can become a teacher and guide students, not just about technical aspects of cooking, but also teach them about health and nutrition. One can also start one’s culinary school and teach individuals various recipes ranging from baking cakes to chocolate making.
With the proper qualification, one can also secure a respectable job of a Dietician and Nutritionist at hospitals. Working as a Counselor, Freelancing, and writing for magazines and newspapers about health and nutrition can also be taken up by dietitians.
Food artist and Food Photographer is another career choice available. Sumptuous restaurants hire food artists and food photographers who can make a casual dish look excellent in its appearance.
Social media has become a great platform for earning money and gaining fame. Thus, one can create one’s Instagram account for food photography or a YouTube channel for sharing recipes and become popular among foodies. If one wishes to work from home and take up cooking as a part-time profession then one can pursue catering to events and paying guest students.
There are many institutes where one can take up courses to enhance one’s culinary skills. Indian School of Hospitality, Gurugram is one such institute. It offers various diploma courses in culinary arts and provides an internship program too. The Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi also offers various culinary courses such as Diploma in nutrition and health education and a certificate course in food and nutrition. Culinary Arts School Delhi, New Delhi YMCA are among other institutes for culinary education, diploma, and certificate courses. The duration of these diplomas and certificate courses is a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 3 years.
For nutrition and dietetics, one can apply to universities such as the Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Chennai, or Jagannath Institute of Management Science which offers a diploma in multiple cuisines course and certificate course in diet and nutrition. The duration of the course in nutrition and dietetics is three years.
Many vocational centers such as the Janki Devi Vocational center or Divya Vocational Center located in New Delhi offer short-term culinary courses such as chocolate making, jams, squash, pickles, biscuits, and namkeens, cake baking, food crafts et cetera.
Internationally there are many renowned institutes for culinary education such as the Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College; The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, San Diego Culinary et cetera.
Successful graduates of three-year professional Bachelor in Hotel Management in culinary course acquire jobs as Sous chef, food scientist, cooks, and culinary manager. BHM in culinary can be pursued from Lovely Professional University, NIMS University, Bharati Vidhyapeeth University-IHMCT, Manipal University, or from UEI Global. Organizations such as Club Mahindra, The Leela, and Marriott hotels et cetera hires BHM-culinary graduates and offer pay packages which range between INR-1.5 and 4.5 lacks annually.
Culinary art promises a mediocre salary, but it also comes with the additional optimism of becoming a celebrity. Take, for instance, chef Amrita Raichand who is the host of her TV show “Mummy Ka Magic” and her YouTube channel “Being Amrita: chef and beyond”. Rakhee Vaswani author of “Picky Eaters” runs a successful palate culinary studio. Sanjeev Kapoor, Vikas Khanna, Pankaj Bhadouria are some of the award-winning chefs and successful Chefpreneurs who have set an example for aspiring Culinary artist.
Choosing a remunerative career can be a very difficult and exhausting task. Cooking is a recreation activity that also has the potential for a lucrative career. If one has the right skill, knowledge, qualification, and passion then this field pays very well and can be very gratifying.
By PRACHI GIRDHAR, NEW DELHI, INDIA
