By Leslie Savage
As 40 is the new 30, so cheffing is the new moonshot.
Stardom in culinary arts used to be limited to a tiny coterie of 5-star restaurant owners, chefs themselves, and a few writers who honed their love of food by eating out. No more.
Entire TV channels devoted to cooking shows, prizes, Iron Man Chef contests, hundreds of magazines and blogs vying for attention. Restaurants competing with menus using local produce, sea and farm yields. Never has the opportunity for a chef to make a mark in the world of gastronomy been so out there.
And not just in the kitchen. Most cookbooks are now the outcome of restaurant chefs who see publishing as a way to enhance income, extend reputation and attract more clients to their tables—all over the world. One Revy family just back from a visit to the UK managed to find two Ottolenghi eateries in London—and sample in their very own restaurants the delectables pictured in Plenty, Plenty More and Jerusalem.
For those wanting to try their hand in the world of food, Okanagan College in Revelstoke is offering Professional Cook Level One Culinary Arts starting February 1. The course is Monday-Friday, 8:45-2:45, for 20 weeks, ending in late June. Cost: $2115 for 600 hours instruction in the community centre kitchens in Revelstoke. The College offers further chef training in Kelowna. Professional Cook Level One is the first of three steps to Red Seal.
Sun FM is running an Okanagan College Trades Tuition Competition with ten prizes of tuition covered for a Trades Apprenticeship or Foundations program. Find out more about how you could do this course for FREE at http://www.thesun.net/Contests/Register.aspx?ContestID=205948.
