Michael Krondl has been a chef and food writer since 1985. He embarked on the career path of writing after graduating from culinary school and working in restaurants in New York, Italy and Canada from 1979 until 1992. After these experiences, he decided that he preferred a culinary career outside of the kitchen.

His columns, features, restaurant reviews and recipe research have been published in American Health, New York Newsday, Good Food, Family Circle, Harper's Bazaar, Working Mother, The Creative Cook, and The Old Farmer's Almanac. He has also worked in recipe adaptation and development for Cuisine, Irena Chalmers Cookbooks, LIFE Magazine, First Magazine, and Workman Publishing.

Mr. Krondl has authored two books: The Great Little Pumpkin Cookbook (1999) and Around the American Table (1995). He has taught at the New School Culinary Center in New York City since 1988, and has also worked in restaurant consulting. He is a graduate of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and received an Honours Certificate in Advanced Food Preparation from George Brown College.

  Michael Krondl & His Career   |   The Actual Work   |   Career / Job Info. & Advice   |   Education Info. & Advice   |   Industry Trends   |   Closing Remarks
 

MICHAEL KRONDL & HIS CAREER

CookingSchools.com: Tell us how your career as a chef unfolded.

I began by studying classical French technique at a professional cooking school in Toronto (George Brown College) and then proceeded to work in a variety of restaurants both in Toronto and then in New York. After spending time in Italy and doing a great deal of independent research into Italian cooking, I helped open an Italian restaurant in New York. It was around this time that I realized that I did not want to spend my future in a restaurant kitchen.

Having come to the realization that restaurant work was not my dream job, I began looking into magazine work and teaching. I first started teaching at a small continuing education program in a nearby school district. After a year or two of experience, I approached the director of the Culinary Arts program at The New School for work.

The magazine work began in a similar vein. I did a little recipe testing at a food magazine, and then I approached the food editor at a women's magazine for a possible assignment. What actually happened there was that I was looking for work in the magazine's test kitchen, but I was told I was not qualified to test recipes; however, the editor suggested that I could submit proposals and possibly write for the publication.

You've been published in many prominent magazines, including American Health and Harper's Bazaar, and your books include Around the American Table and, most recently, The Great Little Pumpkin Cookbook. How important is this kind of recognition to you, personally and professionally?

The books are much more important to me, personally, though the magazine work is more financially lucrative. Professionally, the magazine work gives me a presence "out there" that is essential for maintaining visibility. Similarly, having authored cookbooks lends credibility in the profession.

Who were the biggest inspirations for your career?

Quite honestly, I can't pinpoint any one influence. I tend to be very self-motivated.

What was your greatest success and biggest setback?

I think my greatest successes - or perhaps more accurately, the projects that have given me the greatest satisfaction - have been the books I have worked on. When you work on a book you can really go into depth on a subject, which I find gratifying.

My biggest failure was probably an African restaurant where I worked as a consultant some years back. The reasons for the failure are multiple, but they include a cultural gulf between the kitchen and me, political coups in what was then Zaire, my inexperience in misjudging the project to begin with, and other circumstances too bizarre to explain.

Is there more still that you want to accomplish in your career?

I would like to write more books on food, particularly with a historical angle.

THE ACTUAL WORK

Can you describe a typical day at work for you as a food writer?

The nice thing about working freelance is that there is no such thing as a typical day. It totally depends on the current project. There will be days when I surf the Internet researching recipes and then sit down to write recipes. Other days will find me running around town shopping for ingredients for recipe testing followed by recipe testing itself. Other times are devoted to writing proposals. Because I teach on a frequent, if irregular basis, that also has to be taken into account. Not only the teaching itself but preparation for classes, etc.

How much time do you devote to your writing projects? Are there any that you are working on now?

This varies a great deal from month to month. It probably averages to about 2 to 3 days a week. As I write this, I am finishing an article for Family Circle and am beginning a new book proposal--very hush, hush, this.

Where do you work? What do you like most, least?

I mostly work at home, whether it's writing, testing recipes or preparing for classes. Working at home as a food writer has the usual advantages and disadvantages of working at home: I can test a recipe for apple granola squares in my underwear, but there are lots of distractions. You need a great deal of self-discipline. Teaching, in many ways, provides the perfect counterpoint, allowing me a social and very structured outlet.

As a writer and culinary instructor, how much time do you still spend in the kitchen? What are your favorite kitchen gadgets?

In a restaurant, none. But I still cook a lot, whether in demonstrating or recipe development. And, oh yes, to make dinner. A good knife is the best equipment to have in the kitchen. I'm not particularly fond of gadgets, though I have become enamored as of late with a microplane zester.

What are some common myths about chefs?

That being a chef is glamorous and creative. It is hot, sweaty, stressful work... and mostly highly repetitive.

CAREER / JOB INFORMATION & ADVICE

What kind of jobs can graduating culinary students expect to get? What are the best ways to find them?

The obvious answer is low-level jobs in restaurants, and the way to get them is to ask everyone you know who might be of help--including instructors, of course. I do mean everyone else, though, whether professionally-connected or not. But there are a lot of other options other than working in restaurants: working in magazine test kitchens, corporate test kitchens, catering, being a private chef, food styling...

What are the best ways to break into food writing?

Write. Anything. Anywhere. Like many things, there is that catch 21 - no one will let you do it until you've done it. So write for a community paper or other free publication. It's also important to meet other people in the profession, so join any association that might be of use.

You mentioned a few other kinds of jobs can that graduating culinary students could pursue beyond the kitchen (magazine test kitchens, corporate test kitchens, food styling). Can you describe a few of those options and the best ways to find them?

All food magazines and women's magazines have test kitchens, as do some newspapers. There is also a great deal of freelance recipe testing that takes place for publishers and some other magazines. Generally, some cooking experience is necessary for these, and culinary school is certainly a help.

For corporate test kitchens you'll need a chemistry background as well as culinary skills. Food styling is a very particular (and peculiar) skill that is best learned assisting an experienced food stylist.

How much can one expect to earn annually as a food writer?

Like all freelance work, it goes up and down. Let's say somewhere between $15,000 and $75,000.

How is the job market right now for culinary professionals? How do you think it will be in the next five years? 10 years?

As I write this, the mood in New York is that we're due for a major "correction." What that means is that there will likely be a lot of restaurants closing in the next 12 months. However, I think that is a short-term phenomenon. In the long run, I think Americans will continue to eat out more and more, and thus there will be more restaurant jobs to fill.

Is the profession still as sexist as it used to be?

Clearly not. There have been some changes, but I would hazard to say that there is a greater proportion of women cops than women chefs. Professional kitchens are still very macho places where the journeymen undergo a level of hazing in the first few years. (It's a little like the medical profession that way.)

EDUCATION INFORMATION & ADVICE

Tell us about your culinary education. What did you like and dislike about it?

I attended 10 months of full-time classes and got only six months of education. That's what I didn't like; however, those six months were good in giving me a grounding in classical French cooking which is a good start. Not everything I could have desired, but a good start.

For those who have the talent already, should they go to culinary school and why?

Absolutely. A good cooking school will give you a sound, broad ground from which you can move on. There is much too much emphasis on creativity in United States kitchens. You need to learn how others have done it before you can be creative. Cooking is first a craft. I have worked with several self-taught chefs in the past, and they inevitably fall back on a few proven tricks that they've developed - but they find it difficult to understand how others think. Schools are the most efficient way of learning the basics. There are other ways--serial apprenticeship, for example--but they are much less efficient.

For those who know that they'd like to break into food writing, would you still suggest culinary school?

You have to realize that there are two fundamentally different streams of food writing. One is prose writing which is basically journalistic in nature. The other is recipe development which involves time in the kitchen coming up with recipes. For the former, a good prose writing or journalism program is probably the best bet. For the second, culinary school would be a great help. There are people who do both and could benefit from both kinds of training.

What factors should prospective students consider when choosing a culinary school?

First, the old-boys network. Second, the instructors. And third, the curriculum.

What should culinary arts students try to get out of their education?

As broad an introduction to different approaches of cooking as possible. You will not learn to cook in cooking school - that comes from practice. But the school can open your horizons and give you options you may never have dreamed of.

Based on what you hear in the industry, what do you think are the five most respected and prestigious culinary schools in the world that really make a difference to students who graduate from these schools?

On the East coast it's mostly the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) with New York's French Culinary Institute and Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island coming in as distant seconds. I don't know enough about schools elsewhere.

Are there any degree-granting programs devoted to food writing? Or, at least, with an emphasis in food writing?

Not that I know of.

Is there a major difference in the industry between graduating from a prestigious culinary school and graduating from a college with a culinary program?

Yes. Again, because of the old-boys network. I'm not sure that the CIA is any better than several comparable schools, but it will definitely help you land a job in a prestigious kitchen.

INDUSTRY TRENDS

What are some trends that you see in the field of culinary arts that might help prospective students?

I see much more emphasis on marketing and media skills, and I would suggest anyone interested in any aspect of cooking learn about the way television (along with other media) and spectacle will interrelate with the actual dining experience.

What are the hottest culinary specialties for the 21st Century?

I expect we will increasingly see world cuisine becoming more and more homogenized as the exotic is domesticated. I am reminded of the various casinos being built in Las Vegas: the fake Venice without the stench of the canals, the fake New York without the no. 6 train at rush hour. We find the equivalent in the mock Viennese Danube in New York. Or the ultratrendy Asian theme restaurants opening in Paris. At the same time, those who can afford it will be able to buy exquisite tomatoes and ultra-fresh seafood flown from halfway around the world, which from a purely selfish standpoint, I don't mind.

How has advancing technology and the Internet affected the culinary profession?

I can tell you that I use the Internet for research all the time, but I'm not sure there's been a big influence on the culinary profession as a whole. Long term, I can see business applications in terms of ordering food and managing reservations but, even at it's most technologically savvy, restaurants serving good food are still fairly antiquated systems. Where I think technology will have a greater influence is in the technology of cooling, heating and transportation. Allowing new ingredients to be transported at the peak of freshness, and cooked in ways that we have not perhaps yet thought of.

CLOSING REMARKS

Is there anything else you can tell us about yourself, your career, or the profession that would be interesting or helpful to others aspiring to enter and succeed as a chef?

The thing I love about cooking (apart from eating) is how you constantly learn. How food, because it is so central to our existence, is constantly opening up windows to other realms of experience. And the advice to the aspiring chef is to do it; you will learn a great deal...and you may love it. But even if you don't, remember that there are so many more options than working in a restaurant.

 
If you have any questions for Mr. Krondl related to this interview, please contact him directly at Krondl@aol.com.

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