CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    INTRODUCTION

          A chef is a highly trained and skilled professional cook who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation of a particular cuisine. The word “chef” is derived (and shortened) from the term chef de cuisine (French pronunciation), the director or head of a kitchen.

          There are different terms that use the word chef in their titles, and deal with specific areas of food preparation, such as the Sous-chef, who acts as the second-in-command in a kitchen, or the Chef de partie, who handles a specific area of production. The Brigade system is a system of hierarchy found in restaurants and hotels employing extensive staff, many of which use the word chef in their titles. Underneath the chefs are the kitchen assistants. A chef's standard uniform includes a hat called a toque, necktie, double-breasted jacket, apron and shoes with steel or plastic toe-caps.

          Furthermore, a chef is an individual who oversees the culinary staff and wears quite a few different hats with regard to what goes on in their workplace. Frequently a chef will oversee the staff, place orders for culinary items and direct the overall preparation of the food which is served in the dining establishment. From time to time, the chef will also don the apron and help to prepare the meals as well.

          Other names include executive chef, chef manager, head chef, and master chef. This person is in charge of all activities related to the kitchen, which usually includes menu creation, management of kitchen staff, ordering and purchasing of inventory, controlling raw material costs and plating design. Chef de cuisine is the traditional French term from which the English word chef is derived. Head chef is often used to designate someone with the same duties as an executive chef, but there is usually someone in charge of a head chef, possibly making the larger executive decisions such as direction of menu, final authority in staff management decisions, and so on (Lowry, 2016). This is often the case for executive chefs with multiple restaurants. Involved in checking the sensory evaluation of dishes after preparation and they are well aware of each sensory property of those specific dishes.

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

          One of the main challenges facing chefs in the contemporary professional kitchen is that of the rising influence of convenience ingredients, prepared foods, new technologically innovative equipment and the pressure to embrace and adopt such methods of convenience in a variety of areas. This change can include computerized kitchen ovens that can both roast and steam, or a combination allied to the same oven which also has the ability to electronically store recipes and eliminate normally manual requirements such as probing the core temperature of beef and alerting a chef when it is cooked to requirement. Other areas of convenience may include fully or partially prepared food such as vegetables, meats or even complete meals. All are designed to reduce cost, waste and labour (Robinson and Barron 2007, Cameron 2001).    These forms of convenience are generally accepted and are in practice across many levels of catering from staff canteens to luxury hotels and Restaurants, and are readily supplied by dedicated catering equipment manufacturers and suppliers, catering butchers and catering fruit and vegetable suppliers.

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