After high school, what kind of education and classes will I need to become a chef?

Hi Sofia,

It's really exciting that you'd like to be a chef! I did when I was your age, too...and still do ;). If you're in the Austin area, there's a few wonderful schools nearby called Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, Le Cordon Bleu and the Art Institute of Austin. I would recommend visiting all three, even before you finish high school, so that you can see what the schools are like, talk to the teachers and get some information on the different classes. One of my friends went to Le Cordon Bleu and she has worked in one of the best sushi restaurants in Austin (Uchi) and a really well known bakery in New York called Momofuku Milk Bar. Imagine making cookies, cakes and pies all day! You can get a great education at any of those three.

You can also start on your own education right now. Go to Half Priced Books, pick out a bunch of cook books and start trying out all sorts of different recipes. If you don't know how to do something, the books will usually have pictures and there's so many videos and tutorials on pretty much everything you need to know. An aunt of mine is a professional chef and her advice to me was to also read biographies of chefs like Julia Child, Thomas Keller, Marco Pierre White, Auguste Escoffier (a legend), and the list goes on. Their lives can provide so much insight and advice if being a chef is what you'd love to do.

The last thing I'd recommend is that once you're old enough to get a job, take a look at doing a stage (pronounced STAH-JE) program at a famous, high end or fancy restaurant.You can find more out here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_%28cooking%29. Even though staging is an unpaid internship, the experience you will gain and the things you learn are real life experience - something you don't get in culinary school.

I wish you all the best and hope you start playing in the kitchen!