Below you can see one of The Dish’s bloggers,  Sweet Kell, who is studying at Johnson and Wales University in Denver, CO. Kell’s background in baking and pastry arts has been the topic of most of her posts so far; we’re looking forward to reading more in the future.

Other bloggers include Shun Slinger, who just completed his freshman year at Johnson and Wales University, Charlotte; SaucyA, who is currently in Level 4 of the Classic Culinary Arts Program at the French Culinary Institute; Miss Meingue, enrolled in the Classic Pastry Arts program at the French Culinary Institute in New York City; and Culinary Canary, another French Culinary Institute student.

We’re hoping that they will share some great internship stories in the future. Please check out their blog entries and let them know what you think.

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The award recognizes a working chef in America whose career has set national industry standards and who has served as an inspiration to other food professionals. Candidates must have been working as a chef for at least the past five years, according to the James Beard Foundation Web site.

In a story written by AP Food Editor, J.M. Hirsch, Achatz told the crowd of culinary cream of the crop:

He credits lessons learned when he was 22 and working at The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., with teaching him not just how to cook, but also how to survive.

Those lessons were going to “make me a good cook and ultimately a great chef. What I didn’t know was that it was actually going to save my life,” he said.

“That drive, that tenacity, that dedication that I took in at that restaurant … it became a part of who I am 12 years later and helped me get through a pretty ridiculous battle (with tongue cancer).”

Achatz credits his successful fight against cancer and his ultimate success as a chef to his early culinary endeavors. It seems chefs have the opportunity to learn a lot about life from working in the kitchen.

A culinary internship can instill future chefs with “that drive, that tenacity, that dedication,” that it takes to become successful as a professional and as a person.

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Cantu was a troubled kid from the Pacific Northwest, with a mother who drifted in and out of homelessness. He narrowly avoided a trip to juvie for setting a huge fire in a field next to an apartment complex when he was 12.

As high school ended, Cantu found himself with no place to live. Fortunately, he connected with a couple named Bill and Jan Miller, who sometimes took in troubled teens. They offered him a couch in their living room on the condition that he go to culinary school. He did–and found his calling.

Cantu went on to complete culinary school and was determined to be the best cook he could become. Being that On the Line is centered around Chef David Gilbert’s search for an intern we though it would be important to share the experiences of yet another great chef who shaped his career with the help of numerous internships:

He (Cantu) spent about two years traveling up and down the West Coast, knocking on the back doors of some 50 bistros, organic cafés, and fusion restaurants that he thought could teach him something and offering his services for free.

In February 1999, when Cantu was 22, he decided that Trotter, whom he idolized for his beautiful presentation and use of the best ingredients, would be his next stop. Arriving in Chicago armed with nothing but a stereo and a backpack, he went straight to Trotter’s and scored a meeting for the next day. Trotter told him it was rude to show up without an appointment. Cantu was unfazed. “Sometimes I just want to do things,” Cantu responded, “and right now I want to work at this restaurant, and that’s the only thing I want to do.” Trotter hired him, and Cantu spent the next four years climbing the ranks to sous chef. “It was a tough kitchen,” he says. “Some people call it hell. I call it a character-building experience.”

Cantu has gone on to become an internationally acclaimed chef, a winner of Iron Chef, the executive chef of very successful restaurant (Moto), a leader in the field of molecular gastronomy, and the owner of his own business focused on taking the human dining experience to a new level, Cantu Designs.

Basically, what I’m getting at is an internship can open the door to a number of future endeavors. If you work hard, absorb as much information as possible, and persevere through difficult situations anything is possible. I’ll leave you with that (getting a little too fluffy with my optimism). Read the story though, it’s quite aspiring.

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