TigBits wrote:
> Hi group-
>
> Due to some recent major changes in my life, I'm debating a complete 180
> degree change in my career, and I'm seriously contemplating a degree in the
> culinary arts. I'm 35 yrs old.

I know this is going to sound horrendously brutal but it's the truth,
you are too old... by at least 15 years, more like 20. The truth is
that at your age people go to culinary school to pick up a few pointers
to improve their homemaker cooking skills some but will never be any
good as a pro. If you've had years of professional cooking experience
previously and want the degree to add to your resume then go for it...
otherwise you'll be wasting your time and money, because I seriously
doubt you'll last a week at any job above burger flipper. To first
enter the culinary field at 35 to become a professional cook is
tantamont to taking your first ballet lesson at 35 in hopes of becoming
a prima ballerina. For either ideally one must begin at about age
five. You can be the best home cook of everyone you know but put you
in a professional kitchen you'd not know up from down. Home cooking is
as different from professional cooking as night from day... the reason
many food tv celebrity cooks appear so clumsy and inept is because they
are pandering to home cooks, when in fact they themselves stink at home
style cooking. People who cook for a living rarely cook at home, and
they laugh at all the rage in expensive designer kitchens, because
none, absolutely NONE are designed for professional cooking.

Sheldon