Good evening, friends and neighbors!

 

In recent years, there has been much debate about the idea of internships, particularly the unpaid variety. The concept has always been that a young person (usually a student) would work for free in order to build knowledge and experience. Various other intangible benefits tend to be mentioned as well- “looks good on a resume,” “foot in the door for a paying job,” “building connections/ networking opportunities,” and so on.

In cooking, an unpaid internship is sometimes called “doing a stage” (pronouced ‘staj.’) For a young culinarian, staging can be rewarding, or even life-changing, offering opportunities to learn from experienced chefs, travel, and get a feeling for the kitchen life from another point of view.

     Although staging still happens in parts of America and Europe, today’s economic realties sadly make it impractical for most students, or even chefs who would host them. In some cases, a staging student might be paid in room and board, or even stay for a while under the chef’s roof. Unfortunately, everyone has bills to pay, the need to support themselves, and places that will offer room and board for labor are very much the exception, not the rule.

 

No matter what you do, you’ve gotta feed the monkey.