University of Puerto Rico

Mayaguez, P.R.

Becoming a World Famous Chef

Camila Bonet Tillero

Ingl 3231

Prof. Ellen Pratt

May 14, 2009

Table of Content

I. Prologue

II. Introduction

III. Genres

A. Interview

B. Monologue

C. Recipe

D. Advertisement

E. Resume

IV. Annotated Bibliograhy

V. Epilogue

Prologue

Dear readers and future chefs,

The idea to create this research paper didn’t come so easily. At first I had no idea what I

wanted to write it about and kept changing topics all the time. At last the professor and me

decided that I truly have a passion for cooking ad chefs and I should learn more about what it

takes to be a chef. I believe that this topic is important because this is an important career that

people don’t take seriously and see it only as a hobby. People don’t believe that they could be

wealthy if they cooked for a living, but they are very incorrect because if dedicate yourself to this

career you could earn as much money as a doctor depending on the type of chef one chooses to

be. Also, I think that this is an important topic because a chef is a person that by using their

imagination and creativity, they turn a bunch of ingredients into a masterpiece. In this research

paper I introduce the basics about becoming a chef. For example the qualities one must possess,

like being able to work under pressure, working as a team, having determination and effort and

most of all passion for the job. Also, in this research project I will be presenting the top

universities that specialize in the culinary arts, for example Le Cordon Bleu North America, The

Arts Institute, The Culinary Institute of America among others. All these aspects presented in

this prologue are what makes a great chef and will have great success in his or her future. I

encourage everyone to read this research because it’s interesting to learn and discover the beauty

in the culinary arts.

Sincerely,

Camila Bonet

Future Executive Chef

Introduction

Can you think of a fun career, where the person enjoys the job rather than dread it? A

career where the person can be his or her own boss and at the same time make people happy. It

sounds so perfect and ideal that it almost sound as if it were fake. You’ll be surprised to discover

that it does exist and is very famous around the entire world. This awesome career which I’m

referring to are the culinary arts which people use to become professional chefs.

People get motivated with the culinary arts because they practice it at their homes or they

tune their TV to the Food Network Channel. In the article called “Chefs in the making” it states

“Today’s kids know what they want, and they go after it with determination…The food Network,

recipe websites, magazines, and an array of innovative cookbooks all play an important role in

their decision Making process” (David, 2009).People use the culinary arts to express their

enjoyment and dedication to their job, and this is reflected on their work.

If a career in cooking sounds perfect for you, first it needs to be understood what a chef

is. According to the web site How To Be A Chef, it says “A chef is a person who has studied for

many years in the culinary arts learning how to run a successful kitchen and properly prepare

meals in a professional environment” (How to Be A Chef, 2009). The culinary arts offers many

options to gain a successful career for example there are many types of chefs that you can

become. Among some of these types include the commis chef, saucier chef, sous chef, executive

chef, celebrity chef, personal chef, grill chef, pastry chef, fish chef, roast chef, and many more.

Throughout history there are some important chefs that are worth mentioning since their

food creations were so amazing. The first chef also known as the “King of Chefs and the Chef of

Kings” (Londrie, 2006) was called Antione Careme from France who wrote many essays and

books on cooking. For example, one of Careme’s most famous books was called “The Art of

French Cooking” which is a five volume masterpiece about menu planning, table settings, many

recipes, and the entire history of French cooking. Another chef that I thought had an interesting

history is an American woman called Julia child. She believed that “good food is more than roast

beef and mashed potatoes” (Londrie 2006) and she moved to France to study to the Le Cordon

Bleu cooking school. She became the first “celebrity chef” and had many books, television

programs, newspaper columns, and even magazine articles. Child brought French cuisine into

America, making French food a hit in the United States and she is currently one of the most

famous chefs in the world. Through time the culinary arts have gained a lot of fame and respect.

Getting a job in the culinary arts may take many years of training or a small amount of

time, it depends on the area that you would want to specialize. For example, if the person is

looking is looking for a job in a fast food industry all that is needed is a high school diploma.

But, if the person wants to become a chef of an upper class restaurant that may take years and a

culinary arts school degree. The top culinary arts colleges in the United States include The

International Culinary Schools, Le Cordon Bleu Schools: North America, The Culinary art

Institute of America, among many others. The Culinary Art Institute of America: New York are

encouraging students from high schools to study culinary arts. According to a news article called

“Culinary students fin recipes for success”, it says that a high school student, “Inguito won a full

bachelor’s degree scholarship of $85,000 to the prestigious school after wowing the judges at the

March 21 Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) competition at the Arizona Culinary

Institute in Scottsdale” (McCaltchy, 2009). This article presents an example that everyone has an

opportunity to study the culinary arts because these colleges like any other offer scholarships to

help people.

To be a good chef one must possess creativity or be able to develop it because this is the

most important quality they have. A prestigious chef called Catherine Margles wante to develop

this characteristic on kids and teenagers that was offered in schools called “Creative Kid Chef”.

The article states that in this program “children learn basic professional cooking techniques as

well as safety and sanitation in the kitchen and how to read a recipe, how to plan a menu, basic

etiquette, how to set a table, …learn how to prepare a meal from a variety of regional cuisines”

(Science Letter, 2009). This article showed that professionals were interested in developing

creativity skills on children and teens.

Genres

Interview:

Interview with the Famous Chef Gianna

In the heart of New York City there is a classic Italian restaurant called Il Ristorante di

Gianna. For the last five years that this restaurant has been open, it still remains as the top Italain

restaurant in New York City. Its rising fame has people coming from all around the world, and

reservations have to be made at least a month before. This restaurant has left thousands of people

talking about its beautiful accommodations and the spectacular view it has of the city. The

restaurant has three simple but spectacular dining rooms in which each can accommodate around

seventy people. There is a bar very close to the entrance to the entrance of the restaurant where

people usually wait to be seated. I sat in the bar and ordered an Italian beer called Peroni while I

waited to meet up with Chef Gianna Tomasi. A couple of minutes later Chef Gianna approached

me looking excited and radiant and asked me to follow her into one of the dining halls and sat

with me on a table with a spectacular view of the city. I ordered one of her most famous dishes

called risotto alla Milanese.

Food & Wine Magazine – Good evening, Chef Gianna. How are you today?

Chef Gianna – I’m great, it is such an honor to have a representative from the Food & Wine

Magazine with us tonight!

F & W – Thank you. This is a very pleasant restaurant and has such a spectacular view of the

city. I’m curious, how did you first get interested in becoming a chef? When did you start to

cook?

C.G. – I remember that I started getting passionate about cooking when my parents bought me an

Easy Bake oven when I was six years old. I’ve always looked up to my mom who loves to cook,

and she’s fearless in the kitchen, and eventually it rubbed off on me. She was the one who taught

me how to improvise, and through improvisation I’ve created some of my most famous plates. I

believe that if we have the passion for something, you are able to be the best at it. I started to

cook actual meals when I turned nine years old, I remember that the first plate I ever cooked was

spaghetti with meatballs. Which portrayed that Italian food was my culinary field of interest.

F & W – That’s very interesting. I’m sure you have motivated a lot of people into pursuing a

career as a chef with that passion you have in cooking. What do you think are the most important

qualities a chef should have?

C.G. – I think that the person should have an interest in the cuisine of the different cultures and

countries around the world. Also, the person should not fear failure, and take risks when

cooking. One shouldn’t be boring and plain when cooking. The person should have a lot of

creativity and be spontaneous, that’s the technique I use to create my most special and famous

plates.

F & W – What do you love the most about being a chef? What are your stresses while you’re

working?

C.G. – Well, obviously what I love the most about being a chef is that I get to cook for a living.

Also, I love to see people’s faces when they’re eating the food I’ve made them, it’s amazing to

see how much they enjoy my food. Another thing I love about being a chef is that I can be

creative and spontaneous all the time, I don’t have to follow a routine all the time. I love so many

aspects about my job that if I told you all of them we’d be here until tomorrow morning. I don’t

get stressed out often while cooking but when it’s rush hour and I have to make many platesat

the same time things can sometimes get out of hand. So, I just take a deep breath, try to relax,

and handle one thing at the time, and not try to do everything at once. Also, I try to maintain a

stress free kitchen because it can be very messy if things get out of control.

F & W – That’s great, it’s a very good idea to always have a stress free working area. You have

many recipes of your own, do you plan on creating a cook book anytime soon?

C.G. – I’ve been thinking about writing my own cook book with my recipes and techniques for a

while now, but I still haven’t sat down to write it. But I think that you may see my first cook

book out in stores in about a year and a half. I plan on creating some home videos too because I

think that people would enjoy that as well.

F & W – I’m so excited about your book, I will sure be buying one when it comes out. Of all of

your dishes which one is your favorite?

C.G. – I love most of my dishes and I would love to eat them all, but the one that I cook the most

when I’m home is the Bistecca alla Florentina which is a steak that is famous in Florence.

F & W – That sounds delicious, I’d love to try some soon when I come back to your restaurant.

Well, Chef Gianna thank you so much for this pleasant interview and thanks for the Risotto alla

Milanese, it was great! Your restaurant is a great example of what Italian cuisine should be, good

luck with it.

C.G. – Thank you so much, it has been my pleasure.

Monologue:

My First Day of Cooking School

Have you ever wanted something so much that you’d risk anything to get it? This

probably sounds like I’m talking about love or the man of my dreams, well you‘re mistaken..

People have always thought that I’m a blond who has no brains to do absolutely anything

productive in the world. A lot of people around me said that I was never going to get into college

because I was a dumb blonde, and others have criticized me because a like me could never

become a chef. I want to prove them all wrong because I know what I’m capable of and I know

that I can do anything I set my mind to. Today I was going to begin a very important journey in

my life, something that every person must go through and I’m talking about the first day of

college. Millions of students all around the world compete to get into Ivy league universities, I

competed to get into one of the best culinary arts colleges in America called the Culinary

Institute of America, and got in. To make matters even better, while I was in high school I

competed for a full tuition scholarship on the Culinary Institute of America and amazingly I won.

I was so incredibly happy because everything had turned out exactly how I had hoped for.

In all my happiness and bliss, I never thought that anything would go wrong, but ever

since I set foot on that university, absolutely everything went chaotic. In my first class as I went

up some stairs, and fell facedown on my face in front of the entire and full conference room. I

felt so embarrassed that I left and missed my class. Then, I went to my next class where the

professor called on me like five times because my cell phone kept ringing in my bag and I

couldn’t find it. Afterwards, I went to the cafeteria to eat lunch by myself, I felt too shy and

embarrassed to speak to anyone. As I walked with my food, I tripped and threw my food onto a

very good looking man’s shirt and ruined it. I felt completely miserable and confused, maybe

people were right, I wasn’t going be anything productive in the world.

Everything around me was going wrong and that was driving me insane. I’ve always

been a firm believer on fate and destiny, and started questioning everything around me. Is it my

destiny to become a chef? Should I stay were I am or go back to were I was? Who am I? What

I’m I supposed to do now? At the very moment when I was questioning myself I realized that I

can’t let what other people think and say about me get into my way of achieving my goals and

dreams.

I was going to become a professional chef because I know I can do it and because I

posses the passion that a lot of people in the culinary career has already lost. To be a chef you

need to be creative and be able to take any risks to become into a professional and admired chef.

You can compare cooking to life, in life and in cooking you have to be able to improvise, be

spontaneous, fun and creative which are exactly the essentials of succeeding at life.

Recipe:

World’s Best Layered Chocolate Dessert

Ingredients:

First Layer

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup of flour

1 cup of chopped nuts

Dash of salt

Second Layer

1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 cup of whipped cream

Third Layer

2 (3 ¾ oz.) boxes of chocolate pudding

3 ½ cups of milk

Fourth Layer

Whip cream

Additional Ingredients

10 ounces of love

2 pounds of optimism

5 ounces of creativity

Procedure:

To create this world famous, delicious and loved chocolate layer dessert first one has to

wash their hands well and have a lot of motivation. For the first layer, use a bowl and mix all the

ingredients and at the end add ten ounces of love. After it is mixed well, bake it for twenty

minutes and then let it cool completely. For the second layer, mix all the ingredients and spread

on top of the first layer. After spreading the second layer on top of the first layer, spread five

ounces of creativity. For the third layer, mix the chocolate pudding with the milk, and to that add

two pounds of optimism and beat well for three minutes and then pour over the second layer. On

the fourth and last layer, spread as much cool whip as you desire and you’re done! In a matter of

less than hour you have got a delicious chocolate layer dessert that the entire family can enjoy.

Me, as a chef in the making, this was one of the first recipes I ever made. I remember that it had

been a total success no matter if you’re a beginner or you’re already advanced.

Annotated Bibliography

“Creative Cooking School to Begin Franchising Nationwide.” Science Letter. [Atlanta] 7

Apr.2009. 3468. Academic Research Library. ProQuest. University of Puerto Rico, =

Mayaguez, P.R. 13 Apr. 2009 <http://proquestumi.com>.

The Creative cooking School was founded in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2002 by Chef Catherine Margles and was the city’s first recreational cooking school. Margles started the school in part due to her love and passion for cooking. This school’s credo is “To teach Professional Cooking Techniques to the Home Chef”. This cooking school has a creative program called “Creative Kid Chef” created for children and teenagers who are interested in the culinary arts. In this program children and teens learn basic professional cooking techniques, ways to plant a menu, ways to read a recipe, and encourage them to be creative and create their own dishes.

David, Joe. “Chefs in the Making”. The Science Monitor. [Boston] 25 Mar. 2009:17. Academic

Research Library. ProQuest. University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, P.R. 13 Apr. 2009.

<http://proquest.umi.com>.

In Massachusetts in the Julian Krinsky Camp and Programs there is a cooking program designed for teenagers interested in pursuing a career in the culinary arts. This program is aimed at introducing and connecting teens teens to the food industry in general. The article presents how teenagers see in the culinary arts field, and it says that teens love to express their creativity through it.

HowToBeAChef.com. 2005. 13 Apr. 2009. <http://www.howtobeachef.com>,

This is an amazing web site made to help people who want to become chefs. It presents the reader with a step by step guide on all the requirements and techniques there are to be a chef. It presents the best culinary universities on the United States, and explains how long the person has to go to college depending on what career inside the culinary arts he or she chooses. This is a very helpful website that grants the reader with a lot of information pursuing a career as chef.

Loidre, Keith. “Famous Chefs in History”. Article Alley. 15 Feb. 2006. 10 apr. 2009.

<http://www.articlealley.com>.

On this article Loidre presents some of the most important chefs in history. He mainly concentrates on the French chefs since they were the ones who started with it. He introduces the “King of Chefs and Chef of Kings” as Antione Careme who is famous for many writings on cooking, a book on menu planning, hundreds of recipes, and an entire history on French cuisine.

“Requirements to Become a Chef”. CareerToolKits.com. 2008. 13 Apr. 2009

<http://www.careertoolkits.com>.

This article presents the reader with the various requirements that there are to become a professional chef. It presents the different careers that can be chosen in the culinary arts field such as the fast food industry, or the restaurant industry. It introduces the reader to one of the best culinary arts program on the United States called The Art Institutes. Also, it presents the different qualifications that a person should have to become to become a chef like have creativity, ability to work under pressure, work fast, have good sense of taste and smell, etc. it also tells the reader that the most important qualifications to be a chef is to have a passion.

Ringle, Hayley. “Culianry students find recipes for success.” McClatchy - -Tribune Business

News. [Washington] 4 Apr. 2009. Academic Search Library. ProQuest. Universtity of

Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, P.R. 13 Apr. 2009. <http://www.proquest.umi.com>.

A senior in Queen Creek High School called Inguito won a full bachelor’s degree scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America in New York. This student won this prestigious scholarship because he participated in the Culinary Arts Program competition where he impressed all the judges. Inguito enjoys to cook and create and he seems like the perfect example of the motivation a student should have to enter a culinary arts college.

Epilogue

Writing a multi genre research paper about what are the requirements and the aspects

about being a successful chef in today's cooking industry has made me realize that being a chef is

a lot more than just creating a dish. Becoming a chef takes hard work and determination because

I learned that people experience high pressure in this business. Pressure is something that has to

be taken care of if not the person can be seriously affected in their job. Overall, I’ve learned that

the basic aspects about becoming a successful chef are to have a high school diploma, enter a

culianry arts college or acquire a 2 year program certificate, creativity, determination, patience,

ability to work as a team, and most of all have the passion for it!

               Using a multi genre medium instead of the traditional research paper medium was a lot

of fun  because I got to experiment with different genres. Also, I liked it because each person

could express their creativity through the genres instead of limiting themselves to just one. In my

research paper I used a monologue, an interview, an advertisement, a recipe and a resume. With

these genres I expressed my ideas about what being a chef is all about. For example, in the

interview I wrote about the basic qualities are about a chef, and in the resume it showed what a

professional chef resume should include to make it impressive and sophisticated. Also, I chose a

recipe because I think that this is the most popular way chefs express their creativity when they

write their own cook books. In my monologue you can observe how a person might struggle on

their course to become a professional chef, but at the same time the determination that it must

take to stay on the right course. the advertisement was my favorite genre because it was fun to

do, and here I show what a culinary college or institute might offer a student who is interested in

pursuing a career in the culinary arts.

             I hope that people learn the important aspects about becoming a chef and take everything

into consideration if they would like to pursue this career. In my opinion anyone can become a

chef, if they have the passion for it, they will be successful and will be able to enjoy the best

career in the world.