Chris Cody 's Journal

As a self educated chef with a chemistry degree, I have always defended my right to work as a chef without a culinary degree. I have always found inspiration in self educated chefs that think outside the box and paradigms that strangle society into a herd of brain washed lemmings waiting in line at McDonalds. I agree that a culinary degree will, in fact, teach basics and give you some guidelines with which to grow but nothing more. It doesn’t give you the right to be a head chef or act like you know everything. You have to earn that. I believe strongly that with all these young men and women going to culinary school that I didn’t hurt myself by taken the path less traveled. It certainly wasn’t easier!

It didn’t hurt French chefs in the brigade system during the haute cuisine revolution. I do think that some schools are trying to create chefs “cookie cutter” style. In all honesty, some aren’t even trying to create chefs but take money from kids who have been watching the Food Network a little too much without having been in a working kitchen. Go find a restaurant that you like to eat at and get a job there! It might save your parents some money.

This conflict within me has created a humbling effect. After all, how great of a chef can I be if I haven’t been to chef school? It creates a sense of importance to learning. If I have never been to school, I must always keep growing. I have never been given a piece of paper that said I knew everything about food. I love to find new ways to do things. I love to taste new combinations that my palate has never had the experience of tasting. It is a rebirth of sorts every time I crack a bottle of Italian white truffle oil or cut fresh sweet basil.

It excites me when I read about chefs like Charlie Trotter and Patrick O’Connell who have taken the path I have. They have taken American cuisine to new heights, Refined American Cuisine. Learning never ends. A new experience is never far away as long as you seek them out.