Chef in 2008: Peru's gastronomic boom gets a festival

Do you need a college degree to become a chef? No. Culinary school helps, but the trade's oldest and still most common route is the kitchen apprenticeship: starting as a dishwasher or commis and being promoted on demonstrated skill. Auguste Escoffier, Marie-Antoine Carême and Jiro Ono all learned this way. Employers generally care far more about stage experience and a trusted reference than about a diploma.

How long does it take to become a head chef? Most cooks reach head chef roughly eight to twelve years after their first kitchen job — a few years learning stations as commis and chef de partie, several more running the pass as sous chef. There is no fixed timetable or exam; promotion depends entirely on a head chef judging you ready to run a kitchen.

What is the difference between a chef and a cook? In a professional kitchen, a cook executes a dish; a chef — from the French for "head" — is responsible for the menu, the standards and everyone else's work. Every chef has been a cook, but the title formally means leadership, not just skill at the stove, which is why a brigade has only one chef de cuisine.