Pro opinions on home cooks

[DavidPF]

chef = chief ?
...I'm guessing?

Not true for every modern use of the word, but true that they share the same historic source. Directly translating one for the other would probably be understood most of the time, but would often sound odd. (An office worker saying "My chief asked me to start early next week" sounds funny in English, for example.) But yeah, same basic word for sure.

 

[DavidPF]

I admit to not having an understanding of western kitchen hierarchy. For me I tend to think of pros as falling in to two categories: employees or shokunin. But I don’t think that my division correlates to the cook/chef division. A shokunin can spend their whole life on one dish - it merely shows dedication to a craft. But I’m under the impression (though I may be mistaken) that western chefs are supposed to be competent in a variety of kitchen skills.

One part of it is a desire to copy the "chain of command" concept from the military, with a chef being something like a general, who makes a battle plan and gives orders. A system that specifies who gives orders and who obeys orders should prevent some types of conflict.

Occasionally, it may even work as well as it was intended.