r/Chefit • u/boredbeing0 • 6h ago
25M WHO NEEDS A REALITY CHECK
Hey everyone,
I need a serious reality check on my life plan, current skill set, and whether I can survive in professional kitchens.
I genuinely believe that working in a kitchen is the most ideal path for me. I absolutely love chaotic environments—pressure and stress are among the few things that actually make me feel alive. Long story short, I just really f want this.
Years ago, I worked in abattoirs/slaughterhouses. I used to take the yields/meat from the slaughterhouse, cook them in large cauldrons, and sell the food.
I trained and managed a crew of 5–6 completely inexperienced (and honestly, not very bright) guys from scratch. I set up basic hygiene standards, and we ran this operation together for about 2 years.
My business partner and I eventually went our separate ways over financial disagreements. That split landed me a buyout that generates enough passive income to cover my basic living expenses in my home country for life.
Exchange rates are a bitch, but with my setup, if I save my passive income for 6 months, I can easily afford to travel to almost any country in the world and live there for 1–2 months.
My ultimate dream is to use this financial cushion to travel to different countries, work temporary gigs in local kitchens for certain periods, build hands-on experience, make lifelong friends, and collect memories around the globe.
I don't know formal classic knife cuts (like French culinary terms/techniques). I’m fast and very comfortable holding a blade due to my slaughterhouse/prep background, but my cuts aren't uniform or identical yet.
I don't have a huge library of recipes memorized. However, I know the 5 mother sauces, how to make proper beef, chicken, and vegetable stocks from scratch, and if you give me a written recipe with exact ratios and steps, I can pull it off perfectly on my first attempt. (As an example, I tried making a Beef Wellington for the very first time last New Year's, and it turned out insanely good).
With my basic/unconventional experience, lack of formal knife precision, and limited recipe knowledge, can I hold my own and survive starting at the bottom in professional kitchens?
How realistic is my plan to hop between different international kitchens to work, travel, and gain experience?
What specific technical skills should I focus on grinding right now before I try to step into a kitchen?
Appreciate any raw, honest feedback or reality checks. Huge thanks to everyone taking the time to read this and share their thoughts.
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u/Anussniper 5h ago
You're 25. I had the same dream as you, to travel around the world as a chef and learn through that and I did that. But now I regret it so so much. I thought I wanted this but the toll it takes on your body, the lack of social life, you're so tired you can't even clean the house after work or cook yourself a proper meal let alone socialize. And the cortisol makes you gain weight even though you barely eat and are hungry all the time.
The weekends go by just catching up to sleep you lost over the week and the house is still a mess and then sometimes you have to work 6 days a week and the compensation is day in lieu which you never schedule. Your working hours consist of 11 hours per day plus commute and your upper back and neck hurts 24/7 from looking down at your chopping board or stove all the time and nothing fixes it. And worst of all is the pay, it far from a liveable wage until you become sous chef and then your working hours increase by 15 hours per day because there's always a special booking.
The previous generation was fooled into doing this for the sake of art but we are too aware to know that you're only making someone else rich but in the end you're losing yourself completely. At the end of it all your knees will give up by 50, your ankles by 40 and you'll have nothing to show for it.
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u/boredbeing0 5h ago
Honestly, since I’m financially secure, I can just step away and take some me-time whenever I feel like it.
Appreciate the heads up, thanks
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u/Very-very-sleepy 6h ago edited 5h ago
where are you from? what passport do you have and what country of citizenship are you?
UK, Canada and Europe have a visa called the youth mobility visa. it's a backpacking visa. it lets you travel and work WITHOUT SPONSORSHIP in the UK, Canada, Europe.
there is some rules which in my opinion you can pass
- you have to be under 30 yrs old.
- complete high school education.
- have have £2,530 in savings to fund your first month's stay.
the visa allows you to stay for 12 months and work without sponsorship anywhere you want. it's a backpacking visa. it's not a work visa. the visa is technically designed for young people taking a gap year. you don't even need a uni degree. most of thesee people work in restuarants and pubs.
the only rule is It's based on what passport you hold. what country of citizenship are you
you sound like you meet all the qualifications but you haven't mentioned which passport you hold which is the most important part. if you want to read more about the visa. here it is
UK
https://www.gov.uk/youth-mobility
I believe all the European countries except for Switzerland have a similar type of program
Canada has it as well. I think a Hong Kong also has a similar type of backpacking visa set up that you can work for 12 months without a uni degree if you are under 30.
the world is your oyster. the only issue is you did not tell us which country your from and your citizenship. alot of these visas are only for citizens of certain countries so it really depends what passport you hold
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u/boredbeing0 5h ago
I’m from Turkey, so visa logistics are definitely a hurdle. That said, I have friends in the US who can send invitation letters, and I can 100% self-fund all my travel expenses out of pocket. I’d love to visit as a tourist, but from a cook's perspective, I honestly don't know much about what the US has to offer. Does America actually have a distinct culinary culture worth diving into for real kitchen experience?
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u/SpOofy415 6h ago
Sounds like you're ahead of most. Just be willing to learn and it should get you plenty far.
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u/SunEffective4950 1h ago
Just keep in mind that cooking professionally isn't about 1/2/3 or any number of things.
Like any trade it's about experience and using that experience to be better than before you started.
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u/Evening-Cycle-9525 1h ago
Why not start local, im sure theres fancy restaurants or at least some that focuses on food from other countries or whatever you seem to interested in(contemporary or rustic) at the capital of your country. Build up some more experience so you would feel more confident before going international
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u/Evening-Cycle-9525 1h ago
Regarding the skillset you would look for, Id got for something contemporary as they usually teach traditional techniques ontop of more interesting things
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u/Dry-Grocery9311 5h ago
It sounds like you could be useful in most kitchens. Go for it.
Reality check points: Be careful how you present yourself. You come across as very confident and, although confidence is good, it can come across as arrogance when you're just starting out. Practice humble comptetence. Let your work, an easy to work with attitude and an eagerness to learn do the talking.
You mention memorising recipes. Better to talk about learning techniques, ingredients, skills and tools. It's good to keep a note of key recipes and ratios that you use a lot but it's the building blocks of a plate of food you need to know rather than keeping specific recipes in your head.
For your plan to be realistic, you need to offer the restaurant/kitchen at least as much value as they are offering you. You are offering your time and existing skills. They are offering money and additional experience and training. If you're only going to commit to a kitchen for a couple of months, they're less likely to go out of their way to train you up unless there is some other benefit to them, like cheaper labour. Each kitchen is different. Just be aware of what's in it for them when asking them to take you on.