A SWISS CHEF'S CAREER: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE YUMMY

PROLOGUE

     I've been asked so many times about my professional life. Also many questions about pros and cons of a chef’s career, especially from young people who would like to cook for a living. This is not an easy task to explain, what it takes to devote yourself to become a service oriented person.

    I  think I should start with the pros!

     You will have a lot of joy, recognition, and satisfaction in pleasing, surprising, and overwhelming your guests. One of my main reasons to become a chef was the adventure of traveling. You can find yourself a job anywhere in the world. (Most other jobs are limited to countries and special regions). You have a chance to see other cultures and learn foreign languages. It made me very proud being able to communicate in 5 different languages in my life as a chef, especially after being one of the worst pupils in school in learning French! One great thing, once you are established, everybody in the hotel business knows you and you never have to look for a job again. You will always get lots of offers and it will be up to you to make the right decision. Beside, you will probably have that dream and good feeling to one day build your own establishment.

     On the negative side:

      There a lot of cons to this profession, starting with your willingness to work ungodly hours and most every holiday and being daily under pressure to timely serve your hungry costumers. You will not get wealthy either. Yes, you can make a descent living but unless you go into television you never will pass middle class. You will have to get very lucky like me to find a special partner in life, if you desire to start a family. She or he has to be ready to relocate any time a new job offer comes around and if you have children it will even get harder. Believe me, if you like to be successful you have to relocate quite often.

     I will give it my best effort and jot down all my memories starting with  my first food service experience in my early teens all the way to the end of my chef's career. I guess it could be bit boring to some, so just ignore it and don't judge me, after all, I am not a writer. Expect a new entry every few weeks in the near future.

We been in this together since 1976