Should I Study in Culinary School?

I've been debating with myself if whether or not I'm going to enroll in culinary school. Should I enroll in culinary school? How much will it cost me? What school should I enroll in? ...And all those questions. But monetary questions aside, I've also the question if it's practical at all for me to enroll in it or just pursue my degree in HRM, since I'm only a graduate of its associate version, HRS.


Why I DON'T think it's practical to enroll in culinary school


Firstly, if you're looking for local employment, you hardly need a culinary diploma to be hired as a kitchen staff. You'd be amazed of how many cooks and head cooks and head chefs I know that have not studied culinary at all. You'd be amazed how many bakers I know who went abroad and have made a fortune and have not studied in culinary. My ex himself is now a chef in a cruise ship, earning dollars, and he went to the same school that I did, graduated from the same 2-year-course, and never went to culinary.


He's only 24, by the way, and he started working in a fine-dining resto since he was 23, starting out as a dishwasher and then eventually getting promoted for his enthusiasm. Everytime he finished doing the dishes, he'd go make usi with the cooks and chefs and help them with finishing and garnishing and ask around and ask to be taught. It wasn't long before he got promoted to assistant, and then to a full-time cook. He's always a strong, living proof to me that you don't need to have the damn culinary diploma.


You'd be amazed that fine-dining restaurants and some hotels in the Philippines hire kitchen staff that are never culinary graduates. I've interned in a few and worked in them. I was a kitchen hand myself and learned from these men, and while they want to study culinary themselves, there are things I learned from being there and working with them that I know I would never pick up from school.


Whether or not you graduate from a culinary school, you'd still be applying for the same entry-level position as everyone else, the same position open for HRS and HRM graduates, and if they have actual experience in it, they have the upper hand.


If you want to study culinary, first consider if you can get a kitchen-related job that doesn't require you to have that culinary diploma. If you're male and in your twenties, you'd find that there are a lot out there. And try to get into a resto with a good rep--try fine dining. If you can't get into fine dining yet because they prefer workers with experience, try casual dining restos, they're usually more lenient with who they hire, and then move on to fine dining restos. After gaining experience there, you can easily apply for abroad or for cruise ships.


It's a hard climb, but it's been proven possible by countless cooks and chefs that I know.


Why SHOULD you enroll in culinary school, then?


If you're female and still kinda young, like I am, chances are you will hardly be considered for a kitchen-related job by any resto at all and passed over for a male. Sometimes I feel like I want to enroll in culinary school so employers don't belittle me for my gender. In the Philippines, the commercial kitchen is still dominated by males. A few restos and reputable coffee shops will specifically want to hire a female for pantry/cold kitchen positions, but they would want those with more experience. Males have stronger chances of an onward and upward climb without needing a culinary diploma, lucky guys.


There are also lot of things you learn from school, that even seasoned cooks that I know still want to enroll so they could expand their knowledge.


And if you want to major in Baking and Pastry, I'm afraid you might have to study Baking and Pastry arts, because there are hardly any entry-level jobs in that sector of the food industry that don't require skills and experience. I'm a home baker and I can bake, but without that diploma, I will never be qualified to be employed as one.


Why do you want to study in culinary, anyway?


If you're reading this, chances are you're probably thinking of enrolling in culinary, too. Can you tell me why you want to? Is working in the kitchen your dream or goal? Or do you think it's a profitable career?


Let me just tell you these things:


The food industry isn't as glamorous as many people think, or as media makes it out to be. It can be dirty work. If you expect yourself to be a chef immediately after you graduate from culinary, you're in the wrong train of thought. An instructor at MIHCA (or the Magsaysay Culinary school, whatever the acronym stands for) even said something about it. I quote him when he says that their students or potential students shouldn't expect to be immediately chefs. Everyone starts at the beginning, as line cooks, so they train their students to be efficient cooks and be able to handle real problems that happen in the kitchen.


And don't expect to not do any dirty work; we clean up after our own stations and scrub our own pots and pans, and even go to the grocery or wet market to shop for ingredients. If you're appalled by the thought of being sweaty, this probably isn't for you.


I suggest everyone think carefully. Try a hand at it before doing anything that cannot be altered (such as paying P200,000 for a few months of culinary school). I always dreamt of being a baker and working in a kitchen ever since I was small, and all I ever saw of it was what I saw on TV and what media made the profession look like. But getting and internship in the kitchen and actually working for a few and knowing others in the same path made me realize that this is a difficult job and it isn't exactly how media portrays it. I suggest you try out being a kitchen hand/helper to see how the real world is, or if you can, apply as an OJT and asked to be put in the kitchen. You get experience, and you make connections, and you can get endorsements from chefs--it's a win situation, and who knows, if you work hard, they might even hire you. If you are friends with a resto manager, ask to help out for a few days in the kitchen if possible, just so you get a view of how it is before you make a big decision.


If your love stays strong even if you see the realities, then you truly know that it's your calling.


As for me, I'll weigh my options some more.