Recommended Culinary Books

Here are a few books I used along the way and in my career. These books will give you insight into the culinary life from Kitchen Confidential to the history of our cuisine and the rest will teach the techniques of professional cooking and baking.

Restaurant Industry Economy and Down Sizing

The economy is still trying to recover. Family restaurants, carry outs, and fast food are all doing well because people still have to eat.  Some food service companies are downsizing and changing their operations.  Contract food service operations downsize their operations to meet the clients needs in this economy by cutting service,  changing menus to lower or raise prices and downsizing staff.  Restaurants downsize and change their menus to get rid of high food cost items.  They also change operations to to reduce labor intensive things so that they need less staff to run their operations.
       Higher end restaurants and food service operations may have to downsize to or restructure.  Most people can't afford to eat fine dining in this economy but people still have special occasions to celebrate or occasionally want to treat themselves to a nice meal.  This keeps the higher end food service operations in business.
        The cost of everything is on the rise.  The rising cost of gas costs consumers more to get to and from work. It costs more to ship a truck load of food to a restaurant thus the rising cost of food.  That cost is then transferred to the consumer.  Another factor is natural disaster which destroys crops thus driving up costs which is then passed along to the consumer so that these restaurants and food service companies can turn a profit.
        The economy greatly impacts everything not just food service and as with everything you have to change with the times.  Those restaurant and food service operations that can't make the changes will most likely go out of business or struggle to stay in business.

       

        

Deciding to Go to Culinary School

Deciding to go to culinary school or not is a big decision. A lot of people decide to go to culinary school for the wrong reasons. They think it will be easy, they like to watch cooking shows, eat and cook. They really don't have any direction but know they need a degree in something to make it.
It is not all glitz and glamor as seen on TV. When deciding to go to culinary school make sure it is something you really want to do or you will end up with a culinary degree that you won't use because when you see the real culinary world you will probably work in the industry for a few years then get out when you decide its not what its all cracked up to be.
This just makes it hard for those who really love the food service industry to get the positions they want because the industry is flooded. The restaurant/ food service industry is flooded with people who have degrees who only stay in industry for a few years get tired and get out. Or those people who just work in industry because it pays the bills but really have no drive or determination.
It is hard for employers to weed out these types of people so the people who really have the drive and determination to work in the restaurant/ food service industry have trouble getting their desired position..
When selecting a culinary school be sure to look at the programs offered because some schools may be cheaper but only offer 2year associates degree programs when you may want the 4 year bachelors degree program or masters program.
Also look at the classes offered can you do duel majors like cooking/ baking or is it limited to just one or the other. Are the business classes offered because you can be the best chef but if you can't work the numbers you won't go very far.
Another thing to consider is studying in another country offered. I believe the culinary school I went to Baltimore International College is the only culinary school in the U.S that offers this but I could be wrong.
These are just a few of what I believe to be the major factors in deciding to go to culinary school.

Restaurant Food

What happened to restaurant food? Everything is owned by big corporations and turned in to restaurant chains. They are killing off independent restaurants where real food is created. I almost hate eating out, I'd rather cook myself. Everywhere you go u see the same things on the menus just slightly different no creativity. Why is this you might ask. Well this is because the big corporate chefs have to design menus that are easy enough that a average cook can prepare. They basically have to dumb things down. They have to make the products come out the same in hundreds of restaurants across the country. They have to make it so a $10 an hour cook is able to successfully prepare the food on the menu. You might say well just find a good independent restaurant with a real chef and eat there. Well they are few and far between with these corporate giants and their millions of dollars. The corporations are squashing small restaurants because the independent doesn't have the resources to run ads on TV every day or pay the high rent for good locations. Also quiet often independent restaurants biggest problem is the cost per meal. By this I mean to have chefs creating the menu and selling very nice food costs a lot so you will pay more. Unless it is a independent restaurant that is selling basic food prepared in a skillful manner. But I guess it is easy for these big corporate chains to fool the vast majority when it comes to food.