To be a chef, do I need a degree from a Cordon Bleu/CIA or is a community college culinary program okay too?
Asked by BBZ
Obviously, the Community College option is much cheaper. And I'm a little worried about graduating with 60k in debt and only being able to find a $10/hr line cook gig.

Best Answer:
I think it depends on what you aspire to do in the culinary field. If you want to be a top chef in a fancy New York City bistro, then you are probably going to have to dish out the money up front. Either that, or you're going to have to work five times harder than everyone else to prove yourself. If you are happy being a chef at a small establishment in your home town, then the Community College route could be a better option for you.

As a former chef, they all teach the same things, some more business and less cooking, and other do more cooking and less business techniques, it is true after college or culinary school the job market can eb a very scary place, I would check out all the possibilities, first, the CIA is a very good school, I worked with a ew graduates, the Cordon Bleu is an excellent school also but is more cooking oriented. I am from Canada and we have the same style of training as in Europe, the apprenticeship way has you find a job, then in 2 intervals do your school portions, and after 3 years you write an exam for you Journeymans papers, I had more college and 1 year of university before I did mine, so I got it knock back to 2 years. Look into the local training opportunities, a culinary college or community college in your area will be easier to manage and you will have a smaller debt, plus after your done there will be openings, and a $10 line cooks job is not what a qualified person is hired for, you may have to travel, in my 30 years as a chef, I worked 20+ of those in Hotels, and was able to travel to Jamaica, Singapore and Japan, it is the kind of work that allows you to choose your path, either in restaurants, hotels, catering operations, corporate work, cruise ships, resorts, hospital/nursing home, private club or country club operations. If you have anymore questions feel free to contact me.
Answered by David H