Cooking

Cooks embrace a wide range of skills from creating menus and preparing dishes for Michelin-starred restaurants, to workplace canteens and cafeterias. Apart from cooking delicious meals, chefs have to prepare budgets, calculate profit margins, control and order stock, and keep on top of the latest food trends such as organic and vegetarian cuisine and healthy eating regimes.

Chefs in top-tier hotels or restaurants will need to demonstrate outstanding skills in food preparation and presentation. They will be expected to create and adapt dishes that meet the expectations of demanding customers. It is important that chefs keep abreast of the trends and understand the needs of special diets due to culture, health, or religion. Strict maintenance of equipment as well as personal and food hygiene and safety standards are paramount considerations and often subject to strict regulation. Communicating well with a team is also part of the high-pressure environment in a successful kitchen.

Income growth increases demand for meals made from scratch at a variety of dining venues. As a result, more restaurants and other eating places open to satisfy consumer desires. To ensure high-quality dishes, these establishments are increasingly hiring experienced cooks to work in food preparation.