I'm Casey Bumpsteed, a Cordon Bleu chef, food stylist, writer, and photographer with a deep love for all things culinary. For the past 25 years, I've worked, lived, and breathed food.

This is the story of my journey in the food world, from my baby steps as a culinary school student to my time as a fine-dining chef in Cape Town to my various roles as a food stylist, caterer, business owner, and into the corporate food world.

If I could go back 25 years and give my 19-year-old self career advice, I would — though much of it would reinforce my choices. That might sound contradictory, but stick with me here. I hope this insight helps guide you if you're considering a career as a chef. Whether you're weighing the benefits of formal chef training at an accredited school or learning through hands-on experience in the food industry, this might be the nudge you need to figure out what's best for you.

My path in the culinary world

This quote represents what my mother told me as a high school student when I questioned how to become a chef. I decided to study instead of learning on the job because my family could afford the fees, and because I loved learning. I'm still studying today, in my 40s, and that has been one of my best assets—forever a student, never not growing.

Culinary school days

Straight out of high school, I knew I wanted to work in the food industry. I grew up on the East Coast of South Africa, in the second-largest city in the country, Durban. Durban has always been an emulsion of different cultures, which is reflected in the food I grew up with. With the largest population of Indian immigrants outside India, Durban bursts at the seams with spice-laded dishes. The indigenous isiZulu food is deeply delicious, and there are cuisines from other African and Malaysian countries – growing up here is a food education on its own.

After school, I headed to Cape Town, at (a tender) 17 years old, and stepped straight into the prestigious Silwood Kitchens. At the time, it was the only culinary school in South Africa to offer Cordon Bleu accreditation, and for me, this was everything. Le Cordon Bleu is globally recognized for its world-class culinary training, emphasizing precision in French techniques, international accreditation, and a legacy of shaping top chefs and industry leaders.

The 3 years went by in a blissful whirl. It was hard work, but I was in love with the food industry, delicate plating, and classic French cooking. I knew how to taste (and enjoy) wine, won awards for my pastry and cake decorating, and networked deep into the Cape Town food scene when I graduated. I was a touch gritty, smoked cigarettes, and had a boatload more confidence than when I'd started.

My early career

After 3 years of full-time study and by the time I was 25, I had worked at the Cape Grace Hotel and Ellerman House, two of the most incredible establishments in Cape Town. The chefs I worked under there were tough. This was back in the early 2000s when chefs were still allowed to have temper tantrums and fire you on the spot. I grew up very quickly in these environments and learned how to cope, multitask, and hustle in these environments.

After becoming a mom, I switched directions and built my own catering business from scratch. I also worked as a food stylist and recipe developer, as a consultant to new coffee shop owners to help them build their menus and systems for costings and stock control, and as a private chef to wealthy families holidaying in Cape Town over the summer.

After a few years, I decided I wanted to work in the corporate food world, so I studied marketing management part-time and got a job as a food specialist for a big contract catering company. The pay was stable and high, and the hours were regular. I then worked at Unilever, where I learned about brand management in the food retail space.

In 2022, I left the corporate world to carve out my own space in food writing, recipe development, and photography. Now, my days are spent either writing about food or in the kitchen, crafting new recipes and food content. I'm also studying hormone health and plan to launch my wellness food brand in the middle of 2025.

All this background highlights how versatile this career choice has been for me. I have molded my career around my life and changed it according to the life stages I've been in.

When I chose to study at a culinary school, all I knew was that I loved food. That's it—I had zero plan or strategy around how I would evolve my career, and in some ways, I'm really grateful for that. Between the early 2000s and 2020, the world changed in SO MANY WAYS—economically, technologically, and politically—and being able to stay flexible to change was my golden ticket.

What would I change if I had to do it all again?

To be honest, I'm pretty happy with the path I took. I LOVED my years at culinary school. I was very young when I started and incredibly impressionable. Chef training gave me the creative space I needed between high school and work. The instructors were patient yet firm enough to prepare me for the work environment, and the basics I learned about food costing and food safety were crucial in my early years as a working chef.

The reality is that I was a preferred candidate when interviewing for jobs because of my years at Silwood Kitchens. Employers knew that I had covered the following:

All the foundations of cooking and baking
Beautiful plating and food composition
Health and safety in the kitchen
Basic food procurement and storage
Food business skills

The truth is that cooking school held weight and propelled me way quicker than if I'd learned on the job. I was also able to command a higher salary early on.

Looking back, if I could have added another year of pure learning, I would have niched down further into an area, probably pastry – I wish I had specialized in pastry because the world NEVER has enough pastry chefs, and they are always very sought-after.

That, and I would have added learning basic photography and videography over the course of a year. This would have been SO useful to have known early on, especially since food styling would become such a big part of my career later on.

Culinary school vs learning on the job

So, this is my personal opinion, of course. Other chefs and foodies will have a different view, I'm sure.

Whether you choose to go to culinary school or become an apprentice and learn as you go, it is possible to become a successful chef or foodpreneuer (combination of business knowledge and cooking skills). Both routes will get you there in the end, so long as you are gritty, brave, and hard-working.

My personal experience has been that attending a good culinary school gave me a major advantage early on. Even now, at 42 years old, it gives me an advantage.

This advantage is both in perception (what employees and clients think of me based on my education) AND in my gained practical skill.

At cooking school, I started at the very base of cooking. I learned the classics sauces, how to make a stock from scratch, the history of gastronomy, the details around cookware, butchery, bakery, you name it. I was making scratch-made French pastries in my garage cottage at 18 years old. There is nothing I don't know (well, almost) in terms of the classic principles of cooking.

My opinion is you need to learn how to mix the paints before you can paint on the canvas.

You can, of course, learn this in an establishment as you go. The difference is you will never have that academic accreditation, and many employers look for that in candidates. You will also never have the freedom of learning that comes in a purely academic space, unlike learning on the job.

If you can afford it, go to culinary school. A GOOD one. If it's not feasible, learn on the job and build your brand early on to market yourself.

Want to open your own business and think you don't need cooking school? Sure, you can (and will) succeed with grit, a strategy, and customers. The limiting factor here is that you may change your mind later on, move to another state, country, etc, and might need to find employment. In this case, you may realize you have limited yourself by not getting a formal education in cooking.

The other consideration is networking. This may seem old school, but if you attend a good cooking school, you will be introduced to senior chefs, major establishments, and a whole community from early on. This is huge – a foot in the door. That, and you will have an instant foodie community to lean on in the other graduates. This is especially important in your first 10 years of work.

My advice for anyone considering a career in food in 2025 +

Considering the foodie landscape right now and the twists and turns the world is taking, here are my pieces of advice if you are thinking about a career in cooking/cheffing:

• Build your personal brand early on

  Get someone with a marketing brain to help you define your personal vision and values and communicate that information via social media, Linked In, or a blog early on.

  Nowadays, having a following and online presence is a major value-add to many employers. They want to leverage your audience and your brand and align it to theirs.

• Practice your interviewing skills

  This goes for any career path, I guess, but I've found that many young chefs struggle in interviews – it's not something culinary school prepares you for, unlike business school, for example.

  Here is some advice on how to prepare:

  Research the establishment thoroughly and visit it first, if you can. Know what is on the menu, who worked there in the past (Head chefs, etc), what type of clientele they have and so on.
  Research the establishment thoroughly and visit it first, if you can. Know what is on the menu, who worked there in the past (Head chefs, etc), what type of clientele they have and so on.
  Understand what your personal values are: Write them down and keep them in your mind – some examples include: adventure, innovation, consistency, communication, integrity, tenacity, and agility. If you know what your values are, you will be able to draw on them to answer many different questions within an interview.
  Be prepared for a mystery basket cookoff: Practise thinking up mystery baskets and what you would do in an unprepared cookoff. A mystery basket cookoff is a competitive cooking challenge where chefs receive a basket of secret ingredients and must create a dish within a set time, testing their creativity, technique, and adaptability.
  Be proficient in Excel: They will ask you if you are!

• Find a niche and set yourself apart

  Generalists are great, but if you have a specific niche like wellness via nutrition (e.g. Gut health, hormone health), videography, food product/retail experience, this can give you an edge in the market beyond purely cooking.

  Here are a few examples of how this could work out for you:

  • Wellness knowledge:

    You interview for a sous chef position on a super yacht in the Mediterranean. 5 candidates are being considered, all with similar training at good culinary schools. The interviewer will (undoubtedly) ask you, “Why should we hire you over the other candidates?” and you will be able to answer that, with your knowledge of wellness via nutrition, you can customize menus for their upmarket passengers to cater to their specific dietary needs, aligned with current wellness trends. Your potential employer can include this as a value add, instantly giving them an edge.

  • Videography:

    Whether you own your own business or work for a restaurant or hotel, creating content is a massive cost-saving and an incredible skill for helping you grow your/their business.

  • Food product experience:

    Understanding how to make, package, and sell food products, even if you want to be a traditional chef working in fine dining, is an incredible skill that could be studied or learned over six months. An example is your interview to run the kitchen at a fancy hotel with a spa. In the interview, you suggest a way to increase brand exposure and revenue: to produce a range of artisanal products under the establishment's brand, but with your personal signature. These could be sold in upmarket retail stores and online – this idea gives you an instant edge, and you get the job!

Get fit and healthy

Guys, cooking is hard on the body. Get strong early on. Build exercise into your daily routine from day 1. I started as a 17-year-old teenager weighing 50kg (about 110lb) and was not particularly strong.

I was exhausted during my first year of cooking school. You will carry heavy things, spend hours on your feet, and work late into the night. Keeping fit, healthy, and strong will sustain you, and you will feel way better than your unfit colleagues and fellow students. Fatigue affects your moods, and nobody likes a moody chef.

Think physical and mental fitness. Being a chef is stressful, as you've probably heard. I took years to develop the mental fitness I needed to take the harsh feedback dished out in the early years. You need to take criticism of your work, which is incredibly personal, being something you've made with your hands (and heart).

Know your tech

Learn how to use AI and keep up with the changes, but don't let it take over your creativity and authenticity. Use it as a tool to build systems and plans – the way you would use a calculator to do math.

Wrapping Up

In an ever-changing world, producing food with your own two hands is a rewarding, grounding, and soulful career.

Put in the time and investment to learn—whether at a culinary school or on the job. Master your skills and stay humble enough to learn from those who came before you; it's worth it! As Nelson Mandela said:

The more you learn, the more doors open — not just in the kitchen, but in life.