What is food and cookery?

Do you have a passion for food and cookery? If so, there are many different career options available to you. If you prefer eating to cooking, you could pursue careers like restaurant reviewer or food writer. If you’re more interested in cooking, you could become a qualified chef or a caterer for events. There are also jobs available in other areas, like food science and food photography.

Areas in Food

If you want to work in a kitchen, there are several options available to you. At the bottom level, you could get a job as a dishwasher or kitchen porter. You usually don’t need any qualifications to do these jobs, and it’s a great way to find out if you’re suited to working in such a busy environment. You could then climb up the kitchen hierarchy by actually cooking food as a commis chef, a sous chef, a head chef or an executive chef. You could even open up your own restaurant. If you’re more interested in the properties of food, you could pursue a career in food science. In this area, you could work as a food technologist, a nutritional therapist or a toxicologist. Other areas of food and cookery you could choose as a career include: food buying, taste testing, recipe developing and cookery teaching.

Why study food safety courses?

The more qualifications you have, the more you can climb the career ladder. Furthermore, if you want to embark upon a career in a specific field, you’ll often need to have a relevant qualification. For instance, if you want to become a food technologist or a toxicologist, it helps to have a degree in Food Science. If you want to be a chef, you could do a college course to become a low-level chef like a sous chef or a Foundation degree, Higher National Diploma or degree in subjects like Culinary Arts or Professional Cooking to become a head or executive chef.

Career Outcomes from a Food Course

With so many career opportunities in the food and cookery industry, you’re sure to find a job that you’re passionate about. Here are some examples of career outcomes from completing a food or cookery course:

• Baker: In this position, you would make breads, cakes and pastries. To become a baker, you’ll need to successfully complete a college course like a Level Two Certificate in Bakery or a Level Three Diploma in Professional Bakery.
• Catering Manager: This job involves running the food service of organisations like restaurants, schools and pubs. To get into this profession, you could begin by getting a professional catering qualification at college and then go on to university to study a subject like Business and Hospitality Management or Culinary Management.
• Food Manufacturing Inspector: In this profession, you would ensure food manufacturing companies meet safety and hygiene standards. To get into this career, you could do a college course like a Level Three Diploma in Food and Drink Operations.