Health Care Cooks Get Creativeby Kirk Bangstad Have you ever thought about working as a cook in a hospital or nursing home? These so-called “health care cooks” are needed throughout the country, and health care cooks can often take advantage of better pay and benefits than can be found within the restaurant industry. The potential downside to working in a healthcare facility is have to work much longer shifts, sometimes up to twelve hours. The job of a health care cook varies from institution to institution. Some health care cooks have creative input in weekly menus and dishes, while other health care cooks simply follow orders. Health Benefits: Going to Cooking SchoolTo become a health care cook, you’ll probably need to go to cooking school. Planning menus and understanding proper nutrition generally takes a formal chef education. You can get this sort of chef education by attending an accredited cooking school. Cooking schools are located around the country, and many of these cooking schools offer specific chef education programs for the specific types of cooking that are required for institutions such as hospitals or nursing homes. Spending some time as a health care cook is a chef education in and of itself. While institutional cooking tends not to be as creative as fine dining, having to plan out the proper food proportions and avoid recipe replication provides great training for those who ultimately move into the restaurant business. Working within what usually amounts to a small culinary budget, health care cooks often learn creativity by working with a limited number of ingredients. If you want to really help others through your cooking, becoming a health care cook can offer that opportunity. SourceHealth Care Cook Job Description About the AuthorKirk Bangstad is a singer living in Chicago, IL. Having received his B.A. in Government at Harvard, Kirk previously worked as a management consultant.
Posted on May 11, 2006 at 01:46 PM
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