BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published October 7, 2010

It isn’t often that Swarthmore students envision a future in a busy restaurant kitchen, but John Fischer ’81 has spent his career in the culinary world, as a chef and a sommelier. Though he is now employed as an associate professor in Table Service at the Culinary Institute of America, the premier cooking school in the country, he has also written three books, “At Your Service: A Hands-On Guide to the Professional Dining Room,” “Bistros and Brasseries: Recipes and Reflections on Classic Cafe Cooking” and “Cheese." On Monday, Oct. 4, in Science Center 104, Fischer spoke to a group of about 15 students and members of the faculty about his experiences in the restaurant industry, and gave advice to several audience members who expressed interest in a career in the culinary world. He was invited by Career Services.

Fischer began the talk by giving a brief biography of himself. A psychology major at Swarthmore, he said he got his start in serving people as a bartender at Phi Psi. He intended to enter the advertising field after graduation, but found that jobs were scarce. “No one was hiring in advertising in the early 80’s,” Fischer said.

Instead, he found a job bar tending, and then enrolled at the Culinary Insititue of America after spending a year on their waiting list. At the time, almost all applicants had to wait at least that long, because it was then the only culinary school in the country. He specialized in beverage management and now teaches courses in his specialty at the Institute. “Essentially, I’m a booze specialist,” he said.

During his education at the Institute, he said that his parents were skeptical about his choices, and thought he would be unable to make a good living. But since then, he said, it has become a much more respected career path. “Cooking and food are part of our world, and part of our culture now,” Fischer said.

Jennifer Barrington, assistant director of Career Services, said that she does not know the exact number of Swarthmore students who pursue culinary careers, but she is aware of several who have. “I think there’s something very ‘Swarthmore’ about it, in that chefs need to have creativity and entrepreneurship.”

Fischer agreed, and said in his speech that many stereotypical Swarthmore-like traits are important in the restaurant business. “It’s not all about the food and the flavors, or all about carrying 10 glasses in one hand, it’s about nurturing people. Everything else can be learned, but not nurturing.”

Fischer also talked about the kinds of personalities that work well as chefs. At first, he joked that “bipolar” personalities make successful chefs, but then said the opposite can also be true. “It helps to be the calm in the storm. You should really know what you’re doing so you can be calm. A healthy form of OCD works well, too. You need to have attention to detail, preparedness. You shouldn’t hate people, and you should want to enjoy taking care of people,” he said.

Several students asked questions about how to enter the field from the ground up. Fischer suggested watching quality cooking shows for fun. He advised the group to avoid Rachael Ray and Paula Dean, cringing at the memory of Dean’s hamburger with donuts as buns, and instead to opt for Alton Brown or PBS shows. He also recommended enrolling in a culinary school, though not one affiliated with Cordon Bleu, since those schools are now owned by a for-profit company and unreliable, he said.

Prospective chefs can also try to work at a real restaurant, preferably an eatery from their local city’s top 50 Zagat-rated restaurants, before continuing a formal education. He suggested that they should get an entry level job at an eatery and offer to work for free. “They’ll probably have to pay you for labor law reasons, but they’ll like you for offering to work for free,” he said.

Ben Schwartz ’12, who attended the talk and asked Fischer for advice starting his career in Berkeley, California, said that he loves to cook, and that the talk made him seriously consider it as a possible career path. “[He] was a delight to talk to and hear from. He was a thoroughly entertaining speaker, with a great sense of humor, and did a great job of tailoring his talk to the audience,” Schwartz said in an e-mail. “I’m not sure that I’ll wind up pursuing a culinary career, but I find myself more and more drawn to the idea of culinary school after his talk.”

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