10 Career Options in Food Industry for the Foodie in You

Thinking of a Career in the Food Industry??

The festive season is every foodie’s favourite season. There are tons of feasts and treats to indulge your taste buds. Now imagine that every day of your life was just like the festive season. Every day has a new dish for you to try out or a new feast for you to enjoy. That’s what your life would look like if you took up a food-related career! And we’ve compiled a list of career options for all the foodies out there – go ahead, sample it!

Chef

People are always looking for exceptional gastronomic experiences or authentic cuisines, typically with deep traditional origins, and good food is always in demand. It’s not necessary to stick to traditional cuisines; you may even experiment with new recipes or try your hand at fusion cooking!

Education:

A degree in Hotel Management can help you get into this field. However, if you have a natural flair for cooking, find a chef who’s willing to take you under their own wing, or work on your own pop-up kitchen!

Pay scale:

The average salary of a chef in India ranges from INR 2 Lacs to INR 4.5 Lacs per year. 

Looking to know more about being a chef? Meet Mavourneen Peters, Pastry Chef and owner of Mav’s Cakes and Bakes at Bandra, Mumbai talk about her journey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJA_VsHFQUk

Farmer

If your love for food extends all the way to its roots, and you’re the kind of person who loves getting their hands dirty, this is a great career option for you! Organic farming is becoming more popular, and with the correct education, you might convert your hobby into a thriving business in no time!

Growing food requires patience, but working so close to the earth is a life-changing experience.

Education:

You could enrol for a course in organic farming to get started. A know-how of the field is necessary here to begin on the right foot. If you are unsure, take a short workshop.

Pay scale:

The average salary of a farmer ranges from INR 10 Lacs to INR 20 Lacs per year. 

Food Blogger

If you love writing just as much as you love eating, combine both your passions and become a food blogger! You could choose a theme or simply talk about all your amazing foodgasmic experiences. This is also a great way to connect with fellow foodies from all over the world, and get paid to eat great food. Set up your social media accounts, fill up your blog with delicious tales and get started!

Education:

You can start by taking up a course in content writing or other related fields that helps you understand How search Engine Optimisation works. Follow as many food blogs as possible, and look up online tutorials on setting up your food blog.

Pay scale:

The average salary of a food blogger ranges from INR 2,40,000 to INR 3,50,000 per year.

Food Reviewer/ Critic

The Indian restaurant market is one of the fastest growing in the world. With so many new restaurants popping up so frequently, it is the need of the hour to review them and tell the world what to expect from each one of them. As a food critic, that’s exactly what you would do! You’d go to the restaurant, try the food, tell them what works and what needs to be improved, and then share your thoughts with your audience. A good review, especially from a foodie, is priceless. 
According to Utpal Krushna Khot, a food consultant and blogger, “a good food critic should be aware of how ingredients are assembled in the wok or pan, and the right temperatures needed to make a tasty meal.”

Education:

While there is no specific course that one must take in order to become a food critic, you could pursue journalism or hotel management after college. Keep up with the most recent cuisines, styles, and restaurants. Know everything there is to know about cuisine, from how different ingredients taste to which ones go best together.

Pay scale:

The average salary for a food critic is expected to be INR 2 lacs per year.

Not sure if you have all the above skills to become a Food Reviewer? 

Take the Mentoria career assessment test, to know your strengths

Food Show Host

Do you love facing the camera just as much as you love indulging your taste buds? We’ve got the perfect profession for you – try becoming a food show host. You’d have to put in a lot of research for each episode, be good at scripting, filming and keeping your audience engaged for an entire episode! But all that hard work will be worth it if you love the idea of sharing your passion for food with the world. “A good food show is not really about the food; it’s about people. I believe that in a food show, the emphasis should be on the show. The host must be open to the world, with a sense of humour and an ability to create drama. What a food show host must have is love for people and a passion for entertainment,” says Ishai Golan from Street Food Around The World.

Now that the internet is flooded with fantastic culinary shows and equally amazing hosts, do your homework to figure out what it is that will set you apart from the crowd. Leading travel channels are always on the lookout for new content!

Education: 

While there is no direct course, a course in videography or video editing will come handy while dealing with the camera. You would also have to be very good at public speaking to do well in this career.

Pay scale: 

The average salary of a food show host in India is expected to be INR 3 Lacs per year.

Food Trail Guide

Think you’re a wee bit camera shy? Share your love for food with a smaller group by leading a food trail! With tourism booming in India, people are on the lookout for experts who know their area well as far as authentic local cuisines go. So, if you love taking people around to the best eating joints in the neighbourhood, why not do it for a living?

Education:

Good communication skills and a great understanding of your neighbourhood is all you need to get started. This is a great way of proving to your parents that all those Swiggy and Zomato deliveries were not you being lazy; you were simply scouting to get better at your career!

Pay scale:

The average salary of a food trail guide is expected to range from INR 2 Lacs for a fresher to INR 3.5 Lacs for an experienced guide per year.

Food Taster

A professional taster’s job involves tasting new recipes and cuisines, and checking for consistency and quality. A taster is a coveted professional for brands in the food industry. A taster should have an innate love for details, as well as a knack of what ingredients work (and don’t) in a recipe. But above all, a food taster should have a strong sense of taste and the ability to express that taste in words.

Education:

You could attend culinary school to enhance your understanding of the food industry, pick a food item whose taste you want to specialise in, and look for the relevant degree. Say you wanted to become a cheese taster. There’s an academy for you to hone your skills!

Pay scale:

The average salary of a food taster is expected to be INR 2.5 Lacs per year.

Want to explore food around the world as an enchanting career? Speak to our career counsellors to know if it’s the right path for you. Mentoria promises to handhold you throughout your career discovery journey – from the time you sign up until you get into a career you love.     

Food Photographer

Scroll through Instagram and Pinterest for food pictures and you’re guaranteed to find your mouth drooling in the first few minutes. Food photography brings the beauty of a dish to life, wooing your eyes before it reaches your taste buds. It takes great skill to know which light would make a particular dish look good, what background will make it stand out, and which colours or textures blend well with it. If you love food and have a photographer’s eye, this could be your golden ticket to a fulfilling career in food photography.

Education:

A degree in photography with a specialisation in food is recommended, but not always necessary.

Pay scale:

The average salary of a food photographer ranges from INR 2 Lacs to INr 3.5 Lacs in India per year.

Food Stylist

The job of a food stylist is to make the food ‘look’ tasty, especially when it’s in a photograph. For a food stylist, presentation is everything. While the photographer is concerned with the angles, lighting, and framing of an image, the stylist is in charge of the food’s ‘look,’ as well as the colours and props that will be used. So, if you have an eye for the detail and love being surrounded by food, give this career option some thought.

Education:

A degree in culinary arts and an eye for design will help you do well in this field.

Pay scale:

The average salary of a food stylist ranges from INR 1.8 Lacs for a fresher to INR 3.5 Lacs for an experienced food stylist per year.

Nutritionist

Contrary to popular opinion, being a foodie doesn’t necessarily mean hogging on unhealthy food all day long. If you’re a health-conscious sampler, you still count as a foodie. And if you love telling people how to eat right, indulge in your love for healthy food by becoming a nutritionist!

A nutritionist helps people eat right and stay fit. Your love for food will help you recommend meals that are not only pleasing to the palate but also good for the body.

Education: 

Opt for a BSc in Nutrition and Dietetics to get into this field.

Pay scale:

The average salary of a nutritionist ranges from INR 2 Lacs to INR 10 Lacs per year.

While there are numerous options available for you to pursue, all of them have one common passion – the love for food! Figure out which of your other interests would blend perfectly with your love for food before making a career out of it. We can help you figure that out!

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