as long as you stop before the dumpster fire that is season 5
Dante
The very last arc on the manga does NOT exist. It’s a nasty internet rumor, and whatever panels you’ve seen around, no you’re not. It was some rando doing doujinshi for the kicks
There are 16 year olds attending college all across the country; it’s not impossible for the two to be simultaneously correct.
Needfuldoer
Not sure if you’re on Patreon (or which book it wound up in), but there’s a bonus strip with Connie and Galasso where she’s looking forward to enrolling at IU in the near future.
Outside of specific bakery stuff/being a patissier that needs exact measurements, i’m sure there are good home cooks that you can also get tips/tricks from. Although it would be interesting if there was one of the stay at home mom/dad charas being a better chef than any of their local restaurants
(tho these days with shrink flation and post covid and stuff/quality going down, making things for yourself might be better)
(tho interestingly enough i swear once i saw a website of a culinary arts school that had like a psychology class as a ‘requirement’? or so?? Like, i get maybe a ‘minor in business’ in case ppl wanted to start their own restaurant but psych is a bit odd for it but y’never know i guess it would be useful to know but idk how much you can psychoanalyze your potential customers)
Oh, no, psychology is _much_ more than psychoanalysis. Simply understanding how and why people eat (many reasons besides mere hunger), how they remember and feel due to food stimuli, how they eat together or alone, why they overeat, how they can stick to healthy diets and why they stop them, how eating impacts (positively and negatively) exercise programs (since Joe works out, this is particularly germane to him), and more.
Food is powerful stuff, and knowing how it controls and influences people is important background for any serious food business person.
(hell, we just saw joyce jump joe because he cooked some simple stuff for her [per the instructions])
Psychoanalysis is more or less entirely different than psychology, but I believe I know what you meant.
Cooking is of course about making food, but *making food for someone* is very much a highly social activity. Understanding context, occasion, the mix of people you’re cooking for, the cultural signals they associate certain foods with.. all of these are social skills a chef should possess. Requiring at least some basic courses in psychology seems a perfect fit for chefs.
anon
i guess it depends on how small the restaurant is but sometimes the line cook isn’t the smae as teh cashier taking the order, i’m just fine as long as there’s not like too many mistakes versus the restaurant ppl talking tom e for 5 mins versus it being some kinda ‘entertainment’ thing like how japan has host clubs/hostesses
You’ll need to add the word “formal” to that, and you’ll still only acquire “cook” not “chef”. If you think working shit shifts for a couple of years to learn how to cook isn’t an education, then maybe it’s time to review what education and learning are.
Yeah, the hard part about becoming a chef is mostly “be constantly making food”, preferably many different kinds of food, but specialty is fine, too.
It really depends on what he means by “chef”. Like, running a food truck or a popup is one thing. Working the line at a Michelin starred place is another. Being the cook making bar food is also an option. Or being someone’s personal chef. There’s variety and shit.
Right now, what Joe seems to want is seeing people smile because they ate his food. He’s not passionate about the food itself, yet, I think.
Joe aspires to be the kind of cook that Gordon Ramsey will put 2 slices of bread on either side of his head, and have Joe declare himself an “idiot sandwich”.
Taffy
Gordon Ramsay’s a little punk-ass dusty weasel who couldn’t cook his way out of a takeout box. It’s all smoke and mirrors. The rat fuck has been faking it this entire time, just bullshitting all his recipes and dishes. Nobody wants to fucking admit this, but his camera crew does all the actual cooking and the dirty bastard has a team of six ghostwriters to cover any occasion. He’s been running lines for the camera since his career started.
Rose by Any other Name
Huh.
I have literally no idea if you’re joking or not. Mostly because, aside from general pop-culture osmosis, I have never once watched anything with Gordon Ramsay in it. Mostly because I find any sort of show where people cook elaborate dishes only to have an array of random judges take a single bite and decide if they did good or not is inherently stupid and ignores that personal taste and preferences are the heart of cooking.
Aus
The impression I always get from him is that for all of his bluster, he still is at *least* a competent cook and business manager. Maybe not Truly Extraordinary at those things, but that puts him leagues above the kind of disasters he has on his shows. Like if it the world of chefs, if he’s a B, B- rank, that’d still be leagues better than the Fs on Kitchen Nightmares.
He trained under Joël Robuchon and Marco Pierre White. He’s as real the real deal as there is, despite the over-the-top cartoon TV personality
Yumi
I do like him on Master Chef Jr. He’s good with the kids, and while they have some restaurant challenges when he will be yell-y with them, they’re told about it ahead of time so it’s not actually some sudden shock. (And I think it’s still much less then he’ll do with adults.)
And he does have some sweet moments elsewhere, but again, I don’t watch those as a whole.
Taffy
I was mostly being rude to the big-shot millionaire celebrity, more or less unprompted.
Michael Steamweed
Ramsey is no Anthony Michael Bourdain. Not by any stretch.
Morleuca
that travel show Ramsey attempted was terrible. Not just isn’t Bourdain, but is the antithesis of Bourdain. He doesn’t have that deep sociological understanding of cultures that Bourdain had, nor the grace when encountering subsistence foods. And he certainly doesn’t have the writing chops. He’s a prissy little spoiled douche. He reminds me of the negative caricature Bourdain would talk about when describing himself as a teenager.
I’ve been having difficulty figuring out where IU is aiming w.r.t. “food studies” and the like. Subjects related to food seem to be scattered all over — IIRC Food Studies is part of Anthropology? The clearest focus seems to be on the management side of hospitality.
When I was in school there was a Department of Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management, but it changes its name and mission every couple of years and I have no idea what it’s called now, or what it does.
He could do a business studies or public relations degree, then learn culinary stuff on his own/get an apprenticeship afterward? Or if he wanted to do the molecular gastronomy side of things, he could focus on the science now and the food later.
Back when I was at university a friend did a Phd about the make-up of the perfect sausage. She was actually hired by a big food company out of the gate, although it was more automation than food prep they wanted her for.
Joe and Joyce have a satisfying and fulfilling sexual relationship, but in the end, he leaves her to pursue his culinary dreams. Joyce is left behind with her friends and Dorothy, who as you said anon, gave up her dreams to remain with Joyce. Thus, Joyce finally embraces her bisexuality and dates Dorothy.
Then the comic jumps forward say 6 years or so to Joyce and Dorothy’s wedding day. Joe is there, both as a guest and the caterer (establishing his successful entry into the food industry). Other characters show up, some in couples we knew, others not (either alone or with new partners).
Joyce and Dorothy say their vows. There is a montage of bird seed throwing, photos, and the start of the reception.
And then a portal opens and Soggies appear. Because this is still a David Willis comic.
Dumbing of Age has had runaway gay teenagers and aspiring superpoliticians circle around to staying at IU. I’m certain this is just Willis messing with us.
I agree it is a very nice fountain. However, looking at images online, the central figure’s face and hair seem strangely angular compared to the rest of the work. I wonder why that is.
I mean, i’m sure a certification would be good (at the very least you need to go do a food handler’s test to get a license to sell food), but you could still just be a good ‘self-taught’ chef if not watching vids. Although depending, it would be useful, greed/money aside if some culinary arts/retired chef could come in on places like these on the weekends to have some group cooking class and such so the broke college students aren’t having ramen each saturday lol
Rose n’ Thaws and it serves like icecreams and other frozen treats during the summer and spring. Then during the cold seasons they could be Rose n’ Falls and do coffee with seasonal pastries and fresh muffins – that sort of thing.
Maybe they could do catering and floral arrangements for events.
Yumi
Rose n’ Gnaws, where they serve food that… you eat.
Jamie
Edible flowers is a whole thing. Like, both literal edible flowers, and also shaping food into looking like flowers.
@NPGZ I mean for easy serving/portion size they could do some “bite” sized food like meatballs and dango — i actually saw a bakery once which was called ‘amazeballs’ tho unfortunately it shut down
(Or some vamp chef au with like a name like “love at first bite” 8D.)
I love the fact that he’s just sort of a dumb kid trying to find his way. Trying to become a better person but he doesn’t have a clear career path.
The motivation was different, but I didn’t put much more thought than this before devoting years studying for the ministry. And that went exactly nowhere.
Seeing the bleed through of Joe being happy with Joyce into his other personal relationships is genuinely really heartwarming. At the beginning of the comic he basically treated Danny like a vague nuisance, implicitly because he was, as Joe might have said at the time “babe repellant”. Now he’s actually opening up to him again and talking to him about what he wants in life.
Get a degree in small business management. If you’re a competent self-taught chef and good at keeping the books, you’re going to have a much better shot at making it work than if you’re a professional chef and self-taught at keeping the books.
I was thinking this, too. It’d also be a good background for other opportunities if it turns out he doesn’t love the chef life (most chefs I know actually hate their job).
I kinda want to see him have a little bakery and wear a cute little apron Joyce made for him, because she Definitely learned that kind of home-ec for her prior trad-wife goals. Or slowly evolve into Bob Belcher but with macaroni instead of burgers
Man, if I had a nickle for every one of Joyce’s friends who gave up on their dreams because they’d have to change colleges and thus leave Joyce, I’d have two nickles. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened twice.
151 thoughts on “Chef”
Ana Chronistic
*Joe checks out Totsuki Academy anyway*
“JAPAN! Fuck that, I’m gonna stay here and just watch ChefPK for FREE”
NGPZ
who says Food Wars can’t also take place at IU :p
Xaeon
This feels like a solid opportunity that Willis missed out on
Lysbeth
I like how we’ve all agreed that this is just Food Wars/SnS now
Morleuca
dammit I need third season dubbed!
Ana Chronistic
as long as you stop before the dumpster fire that is season 5
Dante
The very last arc on the manga does NOT exist. It’s a nasty internet rumor, and whatever panels you’ve seen around, no you’re not. It was some rando doing doujinshi for the kicks
TrueVCU
WOULD Joe set himself on fire before validating Danny’s sappy emotional needs?
Nedlum
In this case, I think Danny’s sappy emotional needs have been reassured by Joe coming to Danny with this in the first place.
Rabbit
Their school literally has a whole culinary like, job prep thing. Danny please.
anon
Tbf, it’s not like we’ve been introduced to any students also aiming to be a chef/working in the food industry
Inb4 Galasso was a graduate of this college/his daughter was a student all along and she was just never crossing paths with any one before
Schpoonman
Connie was 16 last semester.
Mano308gts
There are 16 year olds attending college all across the country; it’s not impossible for the two to be simultaneously correct.
Needfuldoer
Not sure if you’re on Patreon (or which book it wound up in), but there’s a bonus strip with Connie and Galasso where she’s looking forward to enrolling at IU in the near future.
NGPZ
I mean IU Bloomington has a program for Food Studies Certificate, not sure how relevant it actually is for a career as a chef.
Worst case scenario he can just teach himself, stay with Joyce and open up a food truck.
I mean how much harder can it be than teaching yourself how to code video games? XD
anon
Outside of specific bakery stuff/being a patissier that needs exact measurements, i’m sure there are good home cooks that you can also get tips/tricks from. Although it would be interesting if there was one of the stay at home mom/dad charas being a better chef than any of their local restaurants
(tho these days with shrink flation and post covid and stuff/quality going down, making things for yourself might be better)
(tho interestingly enough i swear once i saw a website of a culinary arts school that had like a psychology class as a ‘requirement’? or so?? Like, i get maybe a ‘minor in business’ in case ppl wanted to start their own restaurant but psych is a bit odd for it but y’never know i guess it would be useful to know but idk how much you can psychoanalyze your potential customers)
Michael Steamweed
Oh, no, psychology is _much_ more than psychoanalysis. Simply understanding how and why people eat (many reasons besides mere hunger), how they remember and feel due to food stimuli, how they eat together or alone, why they overeat, how they can stick to healthy diets and why they stop them, how eating impacts (positively and negatively) exercise programs (since Joe works out, this is particularly germane to him), and more.
Food is powerful stuff, and knowing how it controls and influences people is important background for any serious food business person.
(hell, we just saw joyce jump joe because he cooked some simple stuff for her [per the instructions])
Aus
Psychoanalysis is more or less entirely different than psychology, but I believe I know what you meant.
Cooking is of course about making food, but *making food for someone* is very much a highly social activity. Understanding context, occasion, the mix of people you’re cooking for, the cultural signals they associate certain foods with.. all of these are social skills a chef should possess. Requiring at least some basic courses in psychology seems a perfect fit for chefs.
anon
i guess it depends on how small the restaurant is but sometimes the line cook isn’t the smae as teh cashier taking the order, i’m just fine as long as there’s not like too many mistakes versus the restaurant ppl talking tom e for 5 mins versus it being some kinda ‘entertainment’ thing like how japan has host clubs/hostesses
Jay
Becoming a chef is literally one of the most “no education required” jobs ever if you’re willing to work shit shifts for a couple years
Decidedly Orthogonal
You’ll need to add the word “formal” to that, and you’ll still only acquire “cook” not “chef”. If you think working shit shifts for a couple of years to learn how to cook isn’t an education, then maybe it’s time to review what education and learning are.
Jamie
Yeah, the hard part about becoming a chef is mostly “be constantly making food”, preferably many different kinds of food, but specialty is fine, too.
It really depends on what he means by “chef”. Like, running a food truck or a popup is one thing. Working the line at a Michelin starred place is another. Being the cook making bar food is also an option. Or being someone’s personal chef. There’s variety and shit.
Right now, what Joe seems to want is seeing people smile because they ate his food. He’s not passionate about the food itself, yet, I think.
Cholma
Joe aspires to be the kind of cook that Gordon Ramsey will put 2 slices of bread on either side of his head, and have Joe declare himself an “idiot sandwich”.
Taffy
Gordon Ramsay’s a little punk-ass dusty weasel who couldn’t cook his way out of a takeout box. It’s all smoke and mirrors. The rat fuck has been faking it this entire time, just bullshitting all his recipes and dishes. Nobody wants to fucking admit this, but his camera crew does all the actual cooking and the dirty bastard has a team of six ghostwriters to cover any occasion. He’s been running lines for the camera since his career started.
Rose by Any other Name
Huh.
I have literally no idea if you’re joking or not. Mostly because, aside from general pop-culture osmosis, I have never once watched anything with Gordon Ramsay in it. Mostly because I find any sort of show where people cook elaborate dishes only to have an array of random judges take a single bite and decide if they did good or not is inherently stupid and ignores that personal taste and preferences are the heart of cooking.
Aus
The impression I always get from him is that for all of his bluster, he still is at *least* a competent cook and business manager. Maybe not Truly Extraordinary at those things, but that puts him leagues above the kind of disasters he has on his shows. Like if it the world of chefs, if he’s a B, B- rank, that’d still be leagues better than the Fs on Kitchen Nightmares.
Ray Radlein
He has won several Michelin stars
Ray Radlein
He trained under Joël Robuchon and Marco Pierre White. He’s as real the real deal as there is, despite the over-the-top cartoon TV personality
Yumi
I do like him on Master Chef Jr. He’s good with the kids, and while they have some restaurant challenges when he will be yell-y with them, they’re told about it ahead of time so it’s not actually some sudden shock. (And I think it’s still much less then he’ll do with adults.)
And he does have some sweet moments elsewhere, but again, I don’t watch those as a whole.
Taffy
I was mostly being rude to the big-shot millionaire celebrity, more or less unprompted.
Michael Steamweed
Ramsey is no Anthony Michael Bourdain. Not by any stretch.
Morleuca
that travel show Ramsey attempted was terrible. Not just isn’t Bourdain, but is the antithesis of Bourdain. He doesn’t have that deep sociological understanding of cultures that Bourdain had, nor the grace when encountering subsistence foods. And he certainly doesn’t have the writing chops. He’s a prissy little spoiled douche. He reminds me of the negative caricature Bourdain would talk about when describing himself as a teenager.
Mark
I’ve been having difficulty figuring out where IU is aiming w.r.t. “food studies” and the like. Subjects related to food seem to be scattered all over — IIRC Food Studies is part of Anthropology? The clearest focus seems to be on the management side of hospitality.
When I was in school there was a Department of Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management, but it changes its name and mission every couple of years and I have no idea what it’s called now, or what it does.
cory
He could do a business studies or public relations degree, then learn culinary stuff on his own/get an apprenticeship afterward? Or if he wanted to do the molecular gastronomy side of things, he could focus on the science now and the food later.
Back when I was at university a friend did a Phd about the make-up of the perfect sausage. She was actually hired by a big food company out of the gate, although it was more automation than food prep they wanted her for.
IntangibleMatter
Ten points to whoever pointed this out yesterday
CitrineMonster
WILLIS PLS NO DONT TAKE JOE AWAY FROM JOYCE ????
anon
Imagine if this is why they break up like “Joe moved/transfer to become a chef, but Dorothy GAVE UP going on Yale FOR ME” or so XP
Rose by Any other Name
Imagine if that was end-game.
Joe and Joyce have a satisfying and fulfilling sexual relationship, but in the end, he leaves her to pursue his culinary dreams. Joyce is left behind with her friends and Dorothy, who as you said anon, gave up her dreams to remain with Joyce. Thus, Joyce finally embraces her bisexuality and dates Dorothy.
Then the comic jumps forward say 6 years or so to Joyce and Dorothy’s wedding day. Joe is there, both as a guest and the caterer (establishing his successful entry into the food industry). Other characters show up, some in couples we knew, others not (either alone or with new partners).
Joyce and Dorothy say their vows. There is a montage of bird seed throwing, photos, and the start of the reception.
And then a portal opens and Soggies appear. Because this is still a David Willis comic.
DashWallkick
Dumbing of Age has had runaway gay teenagers and aspiring superpoliticians circle around to staying at IU. I’m certain this is just Willis messing with us.
Needfuldoer
Joyce really is the nexus point of the Dumbiverse.
(She’s the main character, after all.)
Michael Steamweed
Not going to happen. Joyce needs to keep her new Sub.
😀
Ray Radlein
It’s a good fountain
True Survivor
I agree it is a very nice fountain. However, looking at images online, the central figure’s face and hair seem strangely angular compared to the rest of the work. I wonder why that is.
Taffy
She ran out of polygons, don’t be insensitive.
Needfuldoer
Large outdoor sculptures sometimes need to have weird proportions in order to look “right” from the ground.
anon
I mean, i’m sure a certification would be good (at the very least you need to go do a food handler’s test to get a license to sell food), but you could still just be a good ‘self-taught’ chef if not watching vids. Although depending, it would be useful, greed/money aside if some culinary arts/retired chef could come in on places like these on the weekends to have some group cooking class and such so the broke college students aren’t having ramen each saturday lol
Yumi
Don’t worry, Joe, we’ve been workshoping career pathways that involve you staying at IU.
NGPZ
For reals i would fuckin LOOOVE if he opened up a food truck with Joyce!!! ^^
but what should they name it? and what would they serve?
True Survivor
Rose n’ Thaws and it serves like icecreams and other frozen treats during the summer and spring. Then during the cold seasons they could be Rose n’ Falls and do coffee with seasonal pastries and fresh muffins – that sort of thing.
Maybe they could do catering and floral arrangements for events.
Yumi
Rose n’ Gnaws, where they serve food that… you eat.
Jamie
Edible flowers is a whole thing. Like, both literal edible flowers, and also shaping food into looking like flowers.
anon
@NPGZ I mean for easy serving/portion size they could do some “bite” sized food like meatballs and dango — i actually saw a bakery once which was called ‘amazeballs’ tho unfortunately it shut down
(Or some vamp chef au with like a name like “love at first bite” 8D.)
Shadowsnail
FoodtrUCK
(because Joyce is a fan of that word)
Disastroid
Jo-Jo’s Cuisine Adventure
Vulcanodon
I love the fact that he’s just sort of a dumb kid trying to find his way. Trying to become a better person but he doesn’t have a clear career path.
The motivation was different, but I didn’t put much more thought than this before devoting years studying for the ministry. And that went exactly nowhere.
Angel
No one leaves Blowjob Cat.
True Survivor
When you try to get out, it just sucks you back in.
Michael Steamweed
And everyone knows it! If you don’t know at first, you will soon enough.
Better fel-late than fel-never!
Prince Mech
Seeing the bleed through of Joe being happy with Joyce into his other personal relationships is genuinely really heartwarming. At the beginning of the comic he basically treated Danny like a vague nuisance, implicitly because he was, as Joe might have said at the time “babe repellant”. Now he’s actually opening up to him again and talking to him about what he wants in life.
Endplanets
The opposite of Joe Prime who ditched everyone to learn ngineerin
Francoinblanco
You dont love me, but there you are telling me about your dreams. You have strange idea about small talk
Nymph
Not everyone likes or engages in small talk. It’s super boring.
Jeremiah
Especially if you are forced to do it with someone you barely know for no other reason that you will be “rude” if you don’t.
Taffy
Normalize not forcing a conversation neither party wants or needs.
Dave Van Domelen
Get a degree in small business management. If you’re a competent self-taught chef and good at keeping the books, you’re going to have a much better shot at making it work than if you’re a professional chef and self-taught at keeping the books.
Bogeywoman
I was thinking this, too. It’d also be a good background for other opportunities if it turns out he doesn’t love the chef life (most chefs I know actually hate their job).
I kinda want to see him have a little bakery and wear a cute little apron Joyce made for him, because she Definitely learned that kind of home-ec for her prior trad-wife goals. Or slowly evolve into Bob Belcher but with macaroni instead of burgers
Reltzik
Besides, Joe, if you learned to cook fancy foods with lots of weird ingredients, Joyce would dump you.
anon
i’m sure he’d have a customized menu for joyce as opposed to her feeling ‘obligated’ to be more adventurous
(imagine if they finally hook up and she just ends up being able to have more dishes)
Darkseide
Blowjob Cat will miss you Joe
ESM
Man, if I had a nickle for every one of Joyce’s friends who gave up on their dreams because they’d have to change colleges and thus leave Joyce, I’d have two nickles. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened twice.
Jeremiah