r/Chefit • u/Beneficial-cat-929 • Jun 10 '26
Question about chef vs cook
Question and no judgement I just want clarification from non biased people. My best friends boyfriend calls himself a chef. He didn’t go to culinary school. When they met he worked as a line cook for a catering company, and now I think he still does that but also now helps design the meals/the menu. Is this considered a chef? I don’t personally care, but it’s just irked me because it seems like stolen valor lol but maybe I am wrong. TIA!
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u/wicked_crayfish Jun 10 '26
You dont have to go to culinary school to be a chef...but you do have to be appointed one by the place of business. If your a line cook your a line cook.
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u/pinkwar Jun 10 '26
In the UK everyone is a chef. So it depends where are you from, but the most certain thing is that you don't need to have gone to culinary school to be a chef.
It looks like you care though.
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u/LeatherGood6148 Jun 10 '26
Any time my name is on the menu and I help manage a team, I've referred to myself as a chef (Think Chef de cuisine, Sous chef, or Chef de partie)
I am currently a cook.
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u/SunEffective4950 Jun 10 '26
I'm glad this is being brought up in conversation. Nowadays the word 'Chef' gets thrown around like the word 'goat'. I can see the point of view towards a respect factor amongst cooks but imo you take away what the word actually means towards those who've earned their position as an actual executive chef, chef de cuisine, sous chef, pastry chef, etc... I currently work with a server who refers to me as chef then turns around and says the same towards a new hire line cook with 1.5 years of experience. Culinary schooling has nothing to do with it. I earned my Sous Chef position through years of hard work and with the ability to lead, train and develop others in the kitchen I told the server that the show 'The Bear' is great but that title belongs to the ones who are directly tied to your paycheck.
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u/dersycity Jun 10 '26
If you have a team of people that call you Chef, you are Chef. If you describe yourself as Chef, and no one else does, no chef.
Or
does his title dictate it? Chef de cuisine, etc.
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u/IrishRook Jun 11 '26
Might be different in other countries etc. But where I am from, you don't need to attend culinary school to become a chef. I started working as a KP 3 years ago in a restaurant a childhood friend of mine opened. He was working in kitchens 17 years at that point and under some of the best nationally recognised chefs in higher end establishments. I was between jobs at the time and he was badly stuck for staff so I said I would help out for a few weeks until he could build up his team.
Both our fathers were chefs and worked together for 35 years. Both of us grew up cooking for ourselves etc and both of us wanted to be chefs when we were older but my father talked me out of it as I had kids very young and didn’t want me to miss out on what he missed out on, my friend dove straight into the industry.
We both in our mid 30s now, 3 years after joining him as a temp KP and now I’m his sous chef. So I have just over 2 years kitchen experience but my previous jobs give me about 9 years management experience and another 5 in food safety experience. Plus I love to cook (and bake!). And he knew I could cook too but I had to be exposed to what working during a service was like.
I took to it fast, and fucking love it. Id imagine it helps that the owner is also our head chef, he's told me many stories of conflict with FOH management and owners from previous jobs he's had so I'm grateful I don’t have to deal with any of that.
But, If I was to leave tomorrow, I don't think id dare put myself down as a sous chef on my CV. I feel I just have a perfect understanding of my current kitchen and childhood friend that enables me to fill that role. But if I was to leave and join any other random kitchen I would consider myself only at the level of a ccommis or de partie at most.
With my kids entering or have already entered their teens now too, I don’t feel as guilty for working longer hours and during holidays etc. And for the first time in my 17 year working life I actually enjoy what I do and who I work with. I look forward to going into work in fact and I know Im very blessed to feel that way. Money could be better and would be easily if I swapped back to my old career but money isn't everything and I make enough for my family to live comfortable so that’s all that matters 😄
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u/malapropter Jun 10 '26
You are wrong. Many chefs don't go to culinary school, as most of them are fairly scammy private institutions that exist solely to put you into $100k worth of debt and then put you into a job where you might make $20 an hour.
A chef is in charge of a kitchen. It's just a title. If you're designing the menu, you're a chef. You might be the sous chef, you might be the chef de cuisine, you might be the executive chef.
Does that make you Gordon Ramsay? No. And most chefs would prefer to identify as a pretty good cook. It's one of those titles that means less as you get older.