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    12 Painfully Practical Lessons I Wish They'd Taught Me In Culinary School

    Some things you gotta learn the hard way.

    Culinary school is great — you learn TONS of genius cooking tricks, life lessons, and (most importantly) how to run a kitchen.

    So here are 12 practical things I wish they'd taught me in culinary school:

    1. You'll probably have to work a TON of hours for the first few years of your career.

    2. How to pay your student loans off...

    3. And that the food industry still makes people "pay their dues" (aka start at minimum wage and work their way up).

    4. That social media has changed the food landscape, whether chefs like it or not. To get ahead, you have to know how to use it.

    5. That working in restaurants isn't your only career option.

    6. That you're not a chef yet (and it'll most likely take you years of working to become one).

    7. How to stay up to date on food trends and stay ~in the know~ (because just knowing the classics won't cut it anymore).

    8. That lots of successful food professionals didn't go to culinary school (and that you don't necessarily have a "leg up" just because you did).

    9. The importance of being fluent in kitchen slang as well as boring hospitality jargon.

    10. That some kitchens are literally 100 degrees and you'll have to learn to take care of your body to stay healthy.

    11. The proper way to knock on the back door of a kitchen (aka how to ask for work the old-school way).

    12. How (and when) to be creative.