# blind chefs?

Category: Grub Garage

## Post 1 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Thursday, 20-Aug-2009 8:05:19

I'm looking at becoming a confectionary chef, (Maybe there is a different name for those who work with chocolate and other sweets, but for now, I guess i'll just use that particular term.) I've always been a huge fan of anything related to chocolate and caramel, (unless it's chocolate-covered insects), and have been fascinated with thatcandy-making process. wish me luck. any tips and tricks i can usewould help a lot. I know i'll have to conquer my fear of extremely hot surfaces like stovetops first. lol

## Post 2 by turricane (happiness and change are choices ) on Thursday, 20-Aug-2009 9:01:55

great job goal. we need more sweet things in the world. I have a good friend whose son is in chef school right now. He's sighted but I can ask him and see what he comes up with.
The biggest thing you need to overcome is your fear. additionally try making things yourself to see if you can do it. look at the recipes and try to determine any adaptations you might need. i mean stuff like talking candy thermometer, how you would tell if something is amber brown or whatever. You need to get the basics down before you go to the hard stuff. am i making sense?

## Post 3 by BigDogDaddy (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Thursday, 20-Aug-2009 10:47:23

I've always wanted to be a chef, Seriously, I do all the cooking for get togethers ETC and enjoy it! About two months ago, we had about 65 people over after church and I made everything. I enjoy the chalenge of making a recipe my own!

## Post 4 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Thursday, 20-Aug-2009 10:48:24

Yup, i know. start out small, then work my way up. :D

## Post 5 by turricane (happiness and change are choices ) on Wednesday, 26-Aug-2009 9:34:00

it might be good for you to get a volunteer job at a church or community group that provides meals. you can start out with simple tasks for a bunch of folks and work up. that is what my daughter has done.

## Post 6 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 26-Aug-2009 11:10:30

I've wanted to get into the food business since I was six-years-old. I can remember doing little things with Mom like stirring the pasta or tasting foods. I'd always want to help her with everything. I created my first recipe at ten and never looked back. But I pushed my dream aside and went to college because I thought it was impossible for a totally blind (no lightt or colour either) person to do it. Then, I came across this program that taught the blind everything about the business, from sanitation and preparation to head chef's work. It consisted of six months of training and three months of an internship at a place chosen by the school. Well, it turns out that the program closed down. So I decided to try a local culinary class and found one that looked nice. By this time, I was already proficient in the use of knives and following recipes. Mom, who worked as a caterer with high profile customers for many years, told me not to be stupid. It was one of the only times she hasn't supported me. She said no one would hire me because I'm blind and I'm a liability so I should start looking for a real job. After much searching, I found the chef that taught the blind program and contacted him. He was very nice but very realistic. He said that most culinary programs aren't designed for the blind and are taught very visually. There really isn't much that I could learn from those. He also told me it's very hard for a blind person to find work in the food business. I asked about possibly working in a little kafe, a deli or a small cafiteria and he said that I'd still have trouble getting hired. The problem, as Mom was so quick to point out, was liability, even if I was trained at a program like the one I found. He suggested finding a place that's willing to hire me to do just one thing, or even one in which I could volunteer. As of yet, I haven't found one. I'm kind of afraid to apply. I still have that dream, though, and it's one of the few jobs I know I'd love.

## Post 7 by wahaha (Zone BBS Addict) on Wednesday, 02-Sep-2009 5:10:32

Tiffanista's points are right on. Chefs are a strange bunch and a blind person wouldn't be all that weird among the outcasts you'd find in a professional kitchen, but there is too much concern and too much at risk, so very few places would ever be willing to give you a chance, even as a stage.
It isn't necessarily impossible, just wanted to give you some real talk about what you face.

## Post 8 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 02-Sep-2009 14:03:46

Well, if you do get in, let me know. It'll certainly give me an inspiration.

## Post 9 by Big Pawed Bear (letting his paws be his guide.) on Wednesday, 02-Sep-2009 19:17:37

the thing is liability here, and maybe blind chefs are more careful than their sighted counterparts, but like in all things, it's prooving this. hmm, preconceptions ay?

## Post 10 by wahaha (Zone BBS Addict) on Thursday, 03-Sep-2009 13:25:58

Then again, the original question was about candy making, if you don't want to be a pastry chef and just interested in making candies, then you wouldn't have to worry about a professional restaurant kitchen, and it would be a little easier to get into the business (not much, but a little bit), because there wouldn't be the same pressure and same concern about being "in the weeds".

## Post 11 by turricane (happiness and change are choices ) on Thursday, 03-Sep-2009 14:20:02

why do you have to work for someone? it seems to me that by doing business on the internet you could sell candy via email. How many of us know or care where the stuff we purchase via the web comes from? since you seem to have a lot of talent, no one would know or care if you were deaf, blind, pink or had horns and a tale. If you had an attractive tasty and tasteful product lead with excellent advertisements, it would make no difference. Now can I come with you to the caribbean or fiji. If you could get a good internet business going, you'd make enough dinero to go there.

## Post 12 by turricane (happiness and change are choices ) on Thursday, 03-Sep-2009 14:22:09

I get so tired of hearing the blind liability excuse. Cooking is one of the few professions where every sense is used. In fact, most chefs I have spoken with admit that visual cues are probably third on the list after smell, and taste. A blind person can play on a pretty level field. We can judge the peak smell of something and know when to remove it from the stove or oven. The problem is that most businesses are run by people who think inside a box and have limmited experience and less imagination.

## Post 13 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 03-Sep-2009 15:52:47

I suppose a candy store is okay, though not really what I'm seeking at any rate. It's just more sales work, with a bit extra cause I get to choose what to sell, unless I make everything from scratch which is an option. Actually, bit of trivia. the first restaurants/diners were started in America by Greeks around the turn of the 20th century as sidewalk places called kandy kitchens (or kapa kapa as a letter abbreviation). lol

## Post 14 by wahaha (Zone BBS Addict) on Friday, 04-Sep-2009 5:24:15

I'm just thinking because you mentioned chocolate and caramels and not pastry that it would be more what you were into. If you had your own shop or were working with a small locally established bakery or something, I'd figure you'd be free to make chocolates and not just do the sales work that you would at an established brand's mall shop.
As to the liability "excuse" turricane talks about, a professional kitchen is an intense place with people constantly moving in every direction. It's easy enough for a sighted newbie to cause problems, walk into chefs/waiters, etc, therefore when they think about a blind person, they just see it as chaos. It also has to run as a well oiled machine, delays anywhere in the process from starters to mains to desserts will slow down the kitchen, piss off the customer, and lose profits as tables can't be turned. It's an incredibly demanding job, very very VERY different from just cooking in your own kitchen.
If its a VI individual, I'd imagine they'd be more willing to give a chance than they would a total, but it would take a lot of work and a lot of rejection. It would be hard just getting a chance, even if you were willing to work for free (which is often a requirement for someone starting out), because a pastry chef has to do their thing during an actual dinner rush and if the person failed, it would be very hard on the restaurant. That said, I've read about 1 or 2 people who've made it into professional kitchens, so its not completely impossible.

## Post 15 by turricane (happiness and change are choices ) on Friday, 04-Sep-2009 6:02:03

chengb02
you make some valid points. i was speaking with my friend who is a chef in training and he agreed with you with some modifications. Many smaller more laid back places would be great for ablind person. This would be true especially if he/she had a speciffic job to do and could set up his her station as they would want. additionally, he said that the master chef sets the tone for the kitchen. the rushing and screaming and tantrums mostly come from the top.

## Post 16 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Friday, 04-Sep-2009 9:23:33

That's what the chef who taught the blind told me. He said it's better to find a place that'll let you do one thing. But I've never heard of such a place. I mean, they could just as easily hire someone to do two or three.

## Post 17 by SensuallyNaturallyLiving4Today (LivingLifeAndLovingItToo) on Wednesday, 09-Dec-2009 20:38:21

Ok, being blunt here. It is not realistic. You would have to make a name for yourself, and establish a following. You would need to go to culinary school, bare minimum, then specialize in candy making or pastry chef classes. You need to know chemestry to make candy, especially things like caramel. This is not about burning your self on the stove, you'll heal, but if you pour something boiling hot and sticky like caramel or liquid chocolate on yourself, you could be looking at third degree burns and perminant scarring and loss of function if the tips of your fingers are burned and scarred and you can no longer read Braille. if I were running a restaurant I would not hire a blind chef, no matter how good their pallot was. I might purchase recepies from them, and pay them a percentage of profits from those, but never to work in my kitchen. I love to cook, and am just trying to help you be realistic. Also, someone wrote "How many of us know or care where the stuff we purchase via the web comes from?" That is ignorant. Most people that buy online, do so because they are looking for gourmet quality, or organic, or fair trade, or handmade products, and they want to see mission statements, complete disclosure polocies, etc. If you lied to your customers, through omission, and they discovered that you were blind, you would absolutely lose business, and you would deserve it. Yes, the average dumb American consumer does not care about what's in what they buy or where it comes from, but those people buy bulk candy from Walmart, it's the intelligent, demanding ones that shop online from privat chocolatiers, which is what a candy-maker is called, just BTW.