Love cooking? Here’s what you should know about being a Chef!

The role of a Chef is manifold. Chefs do the hiring, training, supervising, inventory, creating original dishes, determining portion sizes and deciding menus. With experience and perhaps a 2 or 4 year college degree in culinary arts, a chef may find work in restaurants, hotels, cruise ships, specialty food stores or private homes, among other locations.

How to become a Chef:

There are a number of options available for those pursuing a career as a chef which include

• A course in hotel management from a reputed institution
• There are approximately 20 government run institutes across the country, which offer the right infrastructure and faculty and are registered under (NCHM) National Council of Hotel Management
• A number of hotel chains like Taj Group, Welcomgroup and Oberoi Group also run institutions that conduct courses in hotel management
• Students can also enroll in private institutions that are endorsed by the (AICTE), All India council for Technical Education and affiliated with foreign institution of hotel management

Duration of the course

• Institutes that come under NCHM proffer a three year diploma course in hotel management
• Private institutions on the other hand conduct four year Bachelor's program

Top Three Institutions Offering Three Year Diploma Course

1. Army Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology in Bangalore
2. Merit Swiss Asian School of Hotel Management in Ootacamund, Nilgiris
3. Oriental School of Hotel Management in Kozhikode

Top hotels that offer Hotel Management programs

1. Oberoi School of Hotel Management in New Delhi
2. Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration in Manipal
3. The Taj Group's Institute of Hotel Management at Aurangabad

Best Hotel Management Institutes in India

1. National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology, New Delhi
2. Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal, Karnataka.

Advertisement for Welcomgroup entrance test is published in January every year and the test conducted in April

1. Indian Institute of Hotel Management (Taj Group), Aurangabad.

Admission related announcement for the Taj Group is made in February and the exam is held in April/May

1. Kadandala Krishna Rao Memorial College of Hotel Management, Bangalore Karnataka
2. Oriental School of Hotel Management, Kozhikode, Kerala
3. Merit Swiss Asian School of Hotel Management, Ooty, Nilgiris Tamil Nadu
4. RN Shetty College of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Hubli Kolkata

The above mentioned institutes publish admission announcements in February/March.

Finest International Hotel Management Institutes

1. Cornell University School of Hotel Management and Administration, Statler Hall, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
2. The Hotel and Tourism School, Les Roches, CH 3961 Bluche, Crans Montana, Valais, Switzerland
3. Leeds College of Technology, Calverly Street, Leeds, Yorkshire, UK
4. Swiss Hotel Management School, CH – 1824, Caux/Montreux, Switzerland

Thanks to the flurry of TV series like Masterchef, Top Chef, with travel and news channels airing episodes dedicated to food, cuisines and cooking, the aspirational quotient towards becoming a chef is increasing. Celebrity chefs especially Indians, like Vikas Khanna, Ritu Dalmia, Sanjeev Kapoor, Tarla Dalal and many more have helped boost the profession by making a global culinary mark. These chefs, over years of slogging it in the kitchen, have maintained their celebrity status by bringing their individual skills and combining classic dishes with global cuisines while maintaining the authentic flavours. These chefs have also ventured beyond the kitchen by signing book deals, starring in their own cooking shows on TV, endorsing FMCG products, and even ventured into combining food with travel shows like those on FoxLife and TLC. Vikas has recently customized the pizza franchise Dominos menu with his own Italian creation, bringing in a much needed freshness to the outlets.

By Bonita Fernandes

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