Pathway to be a chef?

[Blondie21]

My friend is currently considering becoming a chef as he is very passionate about cooking... however, he would also like to  continue his studies and study engineering at university.

What, in your opinion, is the best option for my friend?

I don't really know much about TAFE and their courses but is it possible to undertake both an undergraduate degree and a diploma in ---- (sorry I have no idea what it's called). If this is the best option, does anyone have any recommendations for an institute/course?

Thanks for any help!!! :-)

[slothpomba]

I dont think you'll find courses like that at university, you may find stuff related to food science (preservation, storage, food chemistry) and agriculture (the obvious) but not how to cook.

I think he should just take a few casual cooking classes first, not part of any academic award. You can find these literally everywhere. If he still likes it after that, take it further.

You could do some kind of diploma at a TAFE or a training institution i'm sure. It would be difficult to impossible, both schedule and effort-wise, to do a full time diploma and university bachelors degree. Therefore, he would either have to do one or both of these qualifications part time to fit in the other. This is non-withstanding any funding concerns but i think the government will pay for both.

I know you didn't ask this but enjoying cooking is quite different to being a professional chef and all that entails. You might not have choice in what you cook and it will be a bit of a production line churning out the same dish every day (unless you own the restaurant). If he just enjoys cooking, cooking classes are all he needs not the full education of a professional chef (which may include things like finance, customer relations, food safety, etc).

[Stick]

My friend is doing a hospitality course at William Angliss that focuses on cooking. She wants to become a pastry chef. Perhaps look into that and see if that's a good way of going about things.