What's the difference between a cook and a chef?

Personally, I think if you cook food professionally, you're a chef. However, my friend, who is an excellent chef and has taught me such a lot about cooking, gets wound up when she's referred to as a chef, so maybe it's down to personal preference.

I did do some digging though, and this article seems to provide a clear and plausible explanation. In a nutshell, a chef is professionally trained and working in a professional environment exclusively cooking, and often with a team working under him or her. A cook on the other hand may not have qualifications and usually works in a domestic situation. By that definition, my friend is definitely a chef.
 
So, according to you, someone who is flipping burgers in a burger joint or someone who churns out food from the back kitchen microwave in a pub where the menu never ever changes is a chef. Whereas yourself, who I am guessing, has not had professional training nor cooks professionally, is a cook.

And this is my dilemma. All these people are cooks but are they chefs? You are much more of a chef than the burger flipper or pub hired hand will ever be!

Have you asked your friend why she dislikes being called a chef?

Your quoted article, although interesting and plausible, I do not find clear! And also outdated. I should not think there are many households with employed cooks these days. I certainly don't know any but maybe I move in the wrong circles!
 
Shadow, I was trained and cooked professionally in a previous lifetime, from the age of 17 until 45. My last job before I was medically retired was Catering Supervisor at an airport, but I never thought of myself as a chef, just someone who cooked for a living.

I certainly wouldn't call a burger flipper or a microwave monitor a chef, and that's the reason it's such a difficult one to call, because I did say that I thought maybe people who cook professionally are chefs. It's a great topic to debate, so I hope we get some more people in here with their ideas.

The reason my friend and I don't like being called chefs is that we think it's a pretentious title, and it doesn't really seem to apply to us, and the type of people we are. That said, if somebody offered me a telephone number salary to present a tv programme on Spanish food, I'd happily call myself a celebrity chef!
 
Sandra Piddock said:
Shadow, I was trained and cooked professionally in a previous lifetime, from the age of 17 until 45. My last job before I was medically retired was Catering Supervisor at an airport, but I never thought of myself as a chef, just someone who cooked for a living.

I certainly wouldn't call a burger flipper or a microwave monitor a chef, and that's the reason it's such a difficult one to call, because I did say that I thought maybe people who cook professionally are chefs. It's a great topic to debate, so I hope we get some more people in here with their ideas.

The reason my friend and I don't like being called chefs is that we think it's a pretentious title, and it doesn't really seem to apply to us, and the type of people we are. That said, if somebody offered me a telephone number salary to present a tv programme on Spanish food, I'd happily call myself a celebrity chef!
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Fantastic! Lovely contradiction! Why do you think a 'chef' is pretentious? Is it because of the pretension you (and your friend) don't like to be called a chef? I think you allude to it with 'celebrity chef'. Most of them are no more than tv presenters who can't really cook.
 
Shadow said:
Fantastic! Lovely contradiction! Why do you think a 'chef' is pretentious? Is it because of the pretension you (and your friend) don't like to be called a chef? I think you allude to it with 'celebrity chef'. Most of them are no more than tv presenters who can't really cook.
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I didn't say I thought a chef was pretentious - I just said my friend and I thought the title of chef was pretentious. It's a personal preference, that's all. And I certainly don't agree with your generalisation that TV chefs are presenters who can't cook. I know Rick Stein, and let me tell you, that guy can cook.And I know people who have seen Delia Smith, the Hairy Bikers and other TV chefs in action in live shows.

It's pretty clear we're never going to agree on this, and you seem determined to misunderstand what I say, so let's just agree to disagree, shall we?
 
It's quite a difficult one to pin down isn't it - I've always thought of a Chef as someone with a passion for food who strives for excellence in every dish prepared or created, whereas a cook is an enthusiastic amateur who aspires to the ideals of a chef - if you see what I mean? :)
 
I looked up my etymological dictionary and chef is the Old French for "head" so originally it meant someone in charge of the kitchen but I think over time it's come to be used for just about any professional cook. I'm guessing it's where the word chief came from as well.
 
It's interesting that we now use the term head chef when it actually means the same thing. The way I understand it, the head chef is in overall charge (obv.), the sous chef is like a second in command, then you have chefs in charge of particular sections if it's a big enough kitchen, and then you have the plain old chefs, then last but not least the kitchen porters etc who are definitely not chefs.
 
Shaun said:
It's quite a difficult one to pin down isn't it - I've always thought of a Chef as someone with a passion for food who strives for excellence in every dish prepared or created, whereas a cook is an enthusiastic amateur who aspires to the ideals of a chef - if you see what I mean? :)
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Passion for food preparation, taste and presentation would make the Chef. Also, the keeping up with food trends and the ability to run a commercial kitchen: ingredient sourcing, food waste management, coming up with balanced, appealing menus.
A bit like the difference between a barman in a traditional cocktail bar and a bartender in a pub.
 
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