Finding Your Culinary Career: ICE President Rick Smilow’s Book

ICE President Rick Smilow and Anne E. McBrides’s new book, Culinary Careers is a comprehensive guide to finding the food job that’s right for you, and then how to grow and succeed along that career path. From resume writing to networking, the book is full of practical advice on getting the right culinary career. There is even advice on managing your social media presence. Culinary Careers includes interviews with 89 professionals, asking them about their salaries, training and day-to-day responsibilities. Among them are Daniel Boulud, David Chang, Ruth Reichl, Michael Ruhlman and Farmer Lee Jones, as well as sommeliers, caterers, company owners, photographers, publicists, consultants, educators and more. “We think that this book will be a valuable source of information and inspiration for scores of people who would love to be in the culinary world, but need a game plan to get there,” Smilow said.

Here is a preview:

Thomas KellerChef-Owner of The French Laundry, per se, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery and ad hoc in California, New York and Las Vegas

What made you decide to become a chef?

There’s not one reason but many. When I started to cook, it was the excitement of working with a team, a bunch of guys in a very high-energy kitchen; that was very exciting to me. It wasn’t necessarily about the quality of food but about the quality of energy, of the team. The first motivation was my mother getting me involved in being a chef where she worked, then the experience with a team. Then really the pivotal point was in 1977, when I went to work with Roland Henin. He made the emotional connection about nurturing, cooking for people, and that really resonated to me. Also, when I was younger, the ritual of repetition, doing the same thing over and over until you get really good at it, pushing yourself to do it better every day, was really appealing.

Culinary Careers ($16.99) is for sale at bookstores nationwide, online and at ICE.