What is the difference between a ‘chef’ and a ‘cook’?

If you ask me, the only difference is that the chef wears a silly looking hat. Just kidding!

The major difference is that the chef is a professional; the individual has a degree in culinary arts. He has spent two to four years learning his/her trade, and he/she usually works in a professional environment — a hotel, or a 4 or 5 star restaurant, sometimes independently owned pubs for example.

A cook, on the other hand, need not have professional credentials; anyone who dabbles in the kitchen can be called a ‘cook’.

You and I can be called a ‘cook’. The word ‘chef’ is the short form of the French ‘chef de cuisine’, meaning ‘chief of the kitchen’. And as the chief, he/she has many people working under him/her including several cooks.

Usually in our homes, a ‘cook’ toils on his/her own! Perhaps much more important, a chef gets paid a lot more than a cook.

Most chain pubs in the UK won’t have a chef but instead will hire cooks, this is the case with Weatherspoon’s where the menu is set of a basic recipe and is followed the same in every location.

This helps to reduce food waste, staff wages meaning in the long run food can be sold cheaper and still able to make a profit.

You will have noticed that independent restaurants and pubs struggle all the time to make profit and to keep stock up because they normally employ at-least two chefs and this unfortunately comes at a cost, yes the food will be better quality and more likely to be home made however the price margin will be much higher.