So, You Want to Be a Chef?: How to Get Started in the World of Culinary Arts (Be What You Want)

Hoped to help a young teen see how to move into career of being a chef!

Some of my fondest memories of the many trips taken to Disney is the food experience. I thought their grits served at breakfast was the finest I had ever tasted. The different specialties can now be duplicated in the confines of your home. It won't always taste the same because you have to go through the labor to produce the food. But it might be something new and exciting for special occassions.This bookwill give you some good ideas of special foods to serve and more importantly how to prepare them. That in itself will be a real treat,

I bought it to have Elijah (age 12) autograph it for his cousin, Alyssa, (age 11) who is artistic with food. When I visit my granddaughter, I try to plan something to make together. She decorates cookies, cupcakes, or candy so well, but once, we even made "Birdwiches". We used them for lunch, and they were a big hit. With a kaiser roll, round deli meat, rolled cheese for a beak, sliced olives and a pea stuck on with mayo for eyes, lettuce for wings, and carrots for legs and feet, it was very cool. Books like this are great for kids with not only an interest in food, but the presentation of food.

I got this for my 12 year old chef and he found it informative and easy to use. A great choice for new and growing young cooks.

:)

So, You Want To Be a Chef?by Jane BedellBeyond Words/Aladdin2013224 pagesEntertaining, noteworthy, informative, and just plain fun, So You Want To Be a Chef? is a must have for anyone with a passion for food.Foodies and Koodies(kids with a culinary flair) everywhere will be clamoring to get this book. Filled with advice, this little gem tells passionate young cooks/chefs/koodies all the information they will need to decide on a future in the culinary industry. Cooks will need to have a passion for cooking, good management skills and "...an artist's eye is required" in this industry.Bedell lists 25 Places Where Culinary Professionals Work including: airlines, hotels, hospitals, spas, resorts, and military bases. Young bloggers and writers offer their insight, too. Thirteen year old Dominick Cura, owner of the website Eternally Gluten Free and writer of a cookbook was first diagnosed with Celiac disease when she was nine years old. She turned around and focused on making good food that wouldn't make her sick and helping others like her. Michael Prados, age 12, is a food blogger and attended the first White House Kids' State Dinner.The book includes fun, little-known facts about food: did you know that almonds, cashews and pistachios are not nuts, they are really seeds? Did you know that the tomato is defined in botany as a berry?Recipes are included as well. There is a delightful recipe for an easy potato soup. The five "mother" sauces are covered, too. Any chef (or cook) will have to master: Hollandaise, Veloute, Tomato, Bechemel and Espagnole to command a kitchen.A goldmine of information is found in "Resources for Chefs and Cooks," cooking terms are defined in the glossary, helpful cooking websites and a bibliography of articles and books will keep young culinary wanna-bes busy for a long time.If you know a young foodie (Koodie), you will want her/him to read this book. Young cooks everywhere are using You Tube to deliver cooking how-to videos to their followers. Sharing sites are making it possible for young koodies to start their careers as children.Highly, highly recommended age 8-up. This is a must-have.see all my reviews at "Young Adult Books--What We're Reading Now"