'Food Jobs,' A Career Guide for Food Lovers
As a graduate of NYU's Food Studies program, one of the questions I hear the most is, "What jobs can you get after you graduate?" (The top question is probably, "So, is that like cooking school?" Answer: "No.") Food & Wine intern and NYU senior Kaitlyn Goalen seemed to have the same question, until she discovered the food career guide Food Jobs: 150 Great Jobs for Culinary Students, Career Changers and Food Lovers by Irena Chalmers. After speaking to Chalmers, the main advice she came away with was to "find a niche," hers including chewing-gum taster and professional egg peeler. Considering my success (with a dash of pure luck) of getting a job at Serious Eats right after I graduated in the summer of 2007, I'd agree with her advice. I'll have to direct future NYU Food Studies graduates to Chalmers' book.
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8 Comments:
I totally want to read it to find out how to become a fortune cookie message writer!
rachelkramerbussel at 4:19PM on 12/04/08
OMG, I am starting at the NYU Food Studies program in January! Can I pick your brain about it?
And thanks for the book recommendation! Ordered it instantly.
spartana07 at 4:22PM on 12/04/08
wow, what a great post! I'm very interested in pursuing food studies (including possibly NYU) when I start college next year, but I am definitely lacking some information about career possibilities. thanks!! :)
teenagefoodie at 5:35PM on 12/04/08
@spartana07: You can pick my brain, sure! I'm not very helpful though since...I forgot a lot of what I did at school already. I could recommend professors, perhaps. :)
roboppy at 5:42PM on 12/04/08
@roboppy: cool. Since I am starting in the spring, my courses this semester are going to be pretty random. can you share some of the most helpful/interesting readings you did?
and did you attend culinary school? if not, where did you do your hands-on cooking requirement? I was thinking I might try a class at ICE.
spartana07 at 10:06PM on 12/04/08
@spartana07: Oh my god...okay, totally cannot remember what I read way back when. >_
Okay, not trying to pimp my own amazon store, but it's the only place I recorded some of the books I read in college apparently. Not that they're all academic. Books like The Taste of American Place and We Are What We Eat were great for leaning about the evolution of "American" cuisine. Aka, a hodge podge of stuff. I remember the first time I read about cornish pasties in one of those books and then I had to go out and get one ASAP. (I went to Meyers of Keswick, heh.) Food Politics was the book I read in high school that made me aware of the Food Studies department in the first place. Wasn't required reading in college though. A good deal of the interesting stuff I read in school was from reading packets that my professors put together. Unfortunately, I can't pick out specific readings...
I didn't attend culinary school; I just took the cooking classes at NYU. My favorite cooking prof was Amy Topel; not sure if she's still there.
roboppy at 10:23PM on 12/04/08
I've read this and I'm not impressed. While she does come up with an impressive and esoteric list, there's practically zero information on the two most important aspects: how you can actually get one of these jobs and how much they pay. Personally, I found it a little lazy in that regard. Your mileage may vary.
atom12 at 7:09AM on 12/05/08
@atom12: Oh no!...that doesn't sound very useful. :( Thanks for the info.
roboppy at 8:53AM on 12/05/08