A vegan chef eliminates foods such as honey, meat, dairy products, eggs, poultry and fish from their recipes. In order to become a vegan chef, your first step to is to find and enroll in a culinary school. There are culinary schools that only specialize in teaching vegan cooking techniques, as well as schools that offer a vegan specialty. Earning your degree is the stepping stone to either landing a job at a restaurant or other type of eatery, catering company, or opening your own business that is related to offering vegan chef services.
Identifying and choosing a culinary school may be one of the most challenging parts to become a vegan chef. First, you have to find out which culinary schools are in your local area where you live. Once you identify these schools, you then have to determine if they have a degree or certificate program that focuses solely on vegan dishes, cooking and food preparation.
If there are not culinary schools in your local area, then you need to investigate options to become a vegan chef outside of your local area. Either way, review all of the criteria for getting accepted in to the culinary vegan program. Once you meet the criteria, complete and submit your application for approval.
To become a vegan chef, you have to complete the culinary program—earning your degree or certificate. To gain experience, you may want to work as an intern with a working vegan chef. This experience allows you to put the culinary skills and knowledge you acquired in the classroom to work with some hands-on experience. You may even wish to work in a couple of different types of businesses to see which environment is more beneficial for you.
For example, you may find that working in a vegan restaurant is too stressful. Instead, you may enjoy working with private clients as a vegan caterer for private events — professional or social.
Now that you have become a vegan chef, you now have to decide how you want to apply your culinary skills to your career. You can apply for jobs at locations that offer vegan menu options, such as hotels, restaurants, catering companies, personal chef opportunities, or food delivery services that prepare and deliver vegan meals to clients. You also have the option to open your own business catering in vegan cuisine.