Filipino Chefs in Demand

WONG:
For decades Filipino chefs have supplied much of the world's labor needs. And now the country is offering a fresh wave of workers. This time chefs are on the menu. Heres more from Manila.

STORY:
A three-day long cook-fest is being held to find the best and brightest the schools have to offer. Competitions like these help the budding chefs capitalize on the growing demand for Filipino chefs.

[Fitzgerald Caprio, Student Chef]:
"Someday, I can be like those who went before me, and become successful in working abroad."

Prospective chefs can get a diploma in only 14 months, but it will cost them over $6000 U.S. dollars.

[Irish Mae Cleto, Student Chef]:
"Some say chefs are not intelligent, so I want to prove something. Someday, when I earn enough from working on a cruise ship, I will come back and open a franchise."

Though the exodus of homegrown talent is a blow to the industry, restaurant owners cannot match the salaries offered abroad.

A chef in Manila earns about $425 U.S. dollars a month while cruise liners can pay at least $1,000 dollars a month.

[Myrna Segismundo, Organizer]:
"I guess it's events like these that help replace who we've lost, because then there's lot of new blood coming in. There's nothing wrong with people wanting to move up in their life, and one way to do that is to work overseas."

In the 1970s this Southeast Asian nation exported construction workers and seafarers. There has been a shift as more professionals such as doctors, nurses, and engineers seek work overseas. Now it seems chefs are also following this trend.

Category:

News & Politics

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• Filipino
• Chefs
• Demand

[imimicc]

chefs are not dumb, they are professionals. They have creativity, originality, and their own qualities. And to be a very good cook, each cook must have knowledge of what they are cooking and research of inovation of ways of cooking. A cook must have a great imagination of taste and a great creativity. If someone may think that chef cooks are weak in their heads, so why are people paying so much for a creation menu of a chef? This is because they are not dumb...

[jomarcel]

who say chef are dumb!? why people say that!? chef makes foods for us to appreciate, to make us relief are stressful day, and to give us the energy we need.

our mother/father who cook for us is like our beloved chef.

if you think chefs are dumb, then your mother/father are dumb.

no hard feelings but this is how I feel for someone who has a dream to be a well known chef

[T700Sony]

More power to my fellow Filipinos!! Nice documentary video .

[smexyliciouslyhOt]

being a chef is all about passion...

if chefs are dumb.. how come their food taste good..?

that alone is an intelligence... called Talent.

[shinytooth23]

That same guy cooking your food today will probably be a rich guy back in his own country when he goes home. Maybe put his kids through college. All power to the man with the vision and the strength.

[mastyrufus]

thing is people have to eat ..... if they had one choice world wide they would eat it like it or not ???? true or not ??? I think us people being chefs trying all these diff dishes to keep up with the demands of etc give us a break imagine a world of a stike of chefs hahaa

[bacolodfoodie143]

and another thing that a good chef must have, wel its not a physical skill, its not the intelligence, but it has something to do with a gift...thats already within you the moment u were.., its similar to an artist's gift,,, wel infact chefs are artists... its creativity!!! wel, theres no school that can teach u this! wel maybe there are methods to develop this gift...yet creativity is still inborn.

[bacolodfoodie143]

wel if u think ur dumb,,, wel maybe you have a point, u cn be a cook ol ur life! doing this routinize tasks everyday!hey and not ol cooks are chefs! sometime in ur life u want to lead and be followed, have a businnes and run it. maybe become a sous chef! executive chef or chef de cuisine! u reli need to understand ol the factors that revolves around the food industry!!! not just cooking!

[bacolodfoodie143]

and maybe by deconstructing this into a new dish,,,, what will be my diners reaction towards it?? wel these are just few concerns. the market is another concern, the concept of the resto, planning a menu is another thing! it requires a genius! to develop a menu that is balanced at the same time edgy!!!! u shit!