As for becoming the chef, one must realize and understand that it is not all about cooking. A big part of being creative is needed in becoming a successful chef. Aside from planning the daily menu, a chef also needs to be in the kitchen doing all the ?kitchen stuff? that is necessary. It doesn't sound like it requires a lot of work but if you try to get to the fundamentals, you'll realize that cutting, chopping, stirring and a lot of action words are all needed in completing the job of a chef.

And then you ask, what does it really take to become a good chef? First of all, if you don't have any appreciation on how a restaurant food is prepared, then you don't have any idea how chefs work. It isn't easy being a chef. There are a lot of areas you will need to concentrate on. Apart from that general view, the way you present your food and maintain consistency in doing it is an art at its finest. It may seem simple for the untrained eye, but for a chef, it took a lot of thinking and diligence to achieve the perfect taste and appearance of a food.

Relying on your creative skill is one major factor to becoming a great chef. But of course, as you learn how to become one, the questions you should ask yourself are, can you handle doing several things at a time? Can you work under pressure? As you can see, a chef thinks and then put his thoughts in to actions. At the same time, there are constant questions and demands that a chef may get from other cooks in the kitchen; even customers may request a specialty out of the blue and a chef, should learn how to comply.

Working under pressure is one thing a chef experiences in a normal basis but of course, loving what you do is most important. As long as you learn from your everyday experiences and grow from it, you'll do just fine.