Cook/Chef

[Rick]

There are no other posters in this section but I am hoping somebody can help me out. I qualified as a chef and I have been looking for jobs in hotels. It has been a while and I am still out of work. I have seen some adverts for cooks down at the local Job Centre and I want to know if this is the same as being a chef? Is a cook a lower paid chef with no qualifications? If I took on a cook role would it hinder my chances of getting a better job as a chef later down the line? I really would love to be known as a chef rather than a cook which I always associate with school dinners!

[Abby]

I think that chef is definitely better qualified than a cook. I used to work in a kitchen doing burgers and pizzas and some other simple foods and I did not need any qualifications for that all they asked was food hygiene certificate. I think that is what I call cook as chef is somebody who can do some fancy stuff.

It is like painter and artist, isn’t it?