that they marvel that “it's amazing people are eating what you cook. It's really self-satisfying, but it's also amazing that people will pay eighty, ninety dollars a meal” (Field notes, Owl's Nest). When this is combined with stroking—public recognition—one's satisfaction is complete. Seeing the smile is important, but having the smile verbalized can be equally significant: “The reason that chefs don't make good food and beverage directors is that being a technician [i.e., a chef], you need stroking. You need a pat on the back. You need somebody to say, ‘Hey, this is a really good meat loaf.' You need that stroking…. You make something, and That was a wonderful table,' somebody would say. ‘You really outdid yourself. That was a wonderful meal. That was great.' That's what you're here for. You're not here for the money. You need the money, you want the money, but there's more to it” (Personal interview, Blakemore Hotel). Workers judge their satisfaction both internally and externally, and they need both internal and external positive feedback to be satisfied.
When workers gain this satisfaction, they feel that they are making a difference, and that they are competent. This feeling increases the likelihood that they will remain in the kitchen.
RECRUITMENT AND SOCIALIZATION
All cooks were at one time outsiders to their trade; they were members of the general public. As is true for many occupations whose practitioners are youthful, first entrance occurs early, often in one's teens.10 One either stays, transforming work into a career, or exits. With the growth of fast-food restaurants and informal family dining outside the home, the hospitality industry has become a major employer of adolescents. This easy entry emphasizes the lack of “professionalism” evident in many corners of the occupation.
ENTERING THE KITCHEN
Several paths lead to the kitchen, but, in my sample, few admitted to a childhood yearning to become a chef, as some youngsters dream of being scientists, political leaders, or doctors. While some believed that they had a knack for cooking or enjoyed working with food, often recruitment was mundane. Some informants were helped by older chefs, but in no case did a formal apprenticeship occur, which used to be common in the grand European restaurants. Recruitment to kitchen work in my sample is through family connections, social networks, promotion from related occupations, and chance connections.
Family Connections. Family connections are important for many European chefs—often fathers or grandparents had owned an inn or were otherwise involved in the “hospitality industry” (Wechsberg 1980, p. 36; Wechsberg 1975, p. 36; De Groot 1972, p. 244; Kimball 1985). While family involvement was not as prevalent in my American sample—here children are not encouraged to follow in their father's footsteps, and personal connections for occupational involvement are not as prominent—in some instances parents set children on the road to the kitchen. Typically this meant that a child acquired a love of cooking from his or her parents:
| DIANE: | My father was an excellent cook. |
| GAF: | Did he teach you how to cook? |
| DIANE: | I guess so, just from watching him. Also we had maids. It was very customary in the South, black ones. They did all the cooking. I watched them, and that's how I think I learned how to bake pies and make collard greens, fried chicken. My father was also a butcher. He'd get some game and bring it home and put it in the backyard and slice it open and let the blood drain out, and I was just totally fascinated. It just intrigued me. I was exposed at a very young age.(Personal interview, La Pomme de Terre) |
Only in one instance did a cook enter the occupation because of a family member. Doug's grandmother cooked at Stan's for twenty years, and while in high school, he was hired as a busboy through this connection and later promoted to dishwasher and cook. After leaving to attend the University of Minnesota, he discovered that he preferred cooking. He has worked at Stan's for over a decade, finally becoming in charge of the kitchen (Personal interview, Stan's). While relatives may influence one's interest in cooking, within American society this linkage is attenuated.
Social Networks. Friends are much more likely than family to help the future cook actually land a job. As Mark Granovetter (1974; see Prus and Irini 1980) suggests, acquaintances or weak ties are important in one's job search. These connections were most prominent at the three freestanding restaurants, perhaps because the personnel office at the hotel made personal ties less significant. The networks of chef-teachers at the trade school proved valuable for some workers in that these men could vouch for their students' ability: “After I started school, I didn't work for a while…but then the instructors were real good about [making connections]. Employers would call in and say we're looking for a cook. Just about like that you could get a job if you're in the vocational system” (Personal interview, Owl's Nest). This cook eventually wound up working for one of his former instructors, and this led to meeting his current boss.
Relatives play a role in hiring through their networks, more than providing direct motivation: “I ask Barbara, the pastry chef, how she got her job at La Pomme de Terre. She answers that her husband had known Brandon, the owner, when he worked [for his previous company]. Brandon suggested that she might try cooking, and she attended trade school. He then offered her a part-time job at the restaurant, which eventually became a full-time position” (Field notes, La Pomme de Terre). Acquaintances are probably the major source of recruitment, particularly if these friends recommend the new employee:
I had an old roommate who worked at La Pomme de Terre as a waiter, and he said he'd get me an interview with Tim [the head chef].
(Personal interview, La Pomme de Terre)
One lady was a waitress at Primos…. She was getting new furniture, and I was moving at the time, and she said, “Do you want some chairs?” and I said, “Sure.” I went over and picked up the chairs, and she said, “Well, what are you going to do for a living now,” and I said, “I don't know. I haven't decided yet. I think I'll take a little vacation.” She said, “Well, I know somebody who's looking for a cook,” and so she called up the guy, and he came over with a twelve-pack of beer, and we sat there and got drunk, and he said he'd hire me.
(Personal interview, Blakemore Hotel)
These network connections occur at each stage of the career and are as valuable for head chefs as for those entering the occupation.
Promotions within Restaurants. Restaurants differ in the likelihood of internal job mobility. In all kitchens employees are promoted within their occupation line, but at better restaurants little opportunity exists for promotion across work lines—for instance, for dishwashers to become cooks.11 This promotion was most common at Stan's and other lower-status restaurants:
| JON: | I started when I was thirteen at Country Kitchen right across the street. I was a dishwasher and busboy. Then started to be fry cook. |
| GAF: | How did you move from being a dishwasher to a fry cook? |
| JON: | Promoted and some people quit. I was always there, and I was always watching, and I showed interest, so I knew I could move up. I didn't want to stay a dishwasher all my life. I also knew that if I showed interest, I would move up the ladder. It is better pay.(Personal interview, Owl's Nest) |
I never really decided to become [a cook], I don't think. I think that decision came as simply as I was washing dishes one night, and [my boss] came up to me, and he said, “Tim, you're pretty responsible. How would you like to become a cook? I'll give you a twenty-cent raise.”
(Personal interview, La Pomme de Terre)
I started as a dishwasher [at Stan's], Then I became a swing cook, and now I'm up to a cook.…I didn't really decide to be a cook. I was just looking for a job, and he had an opening for a dishwasher, and he gave me that job, and a couple of cooks quit, so I got pushed up.
(Personal interview, Stan's)
If workers are perceived as interchangeable
