Journalism or Culinary Arts?

Question

Which should i go into. I love both. It would be great to a pastry chef and so would being a magazine editor. It would be AWESOME if i could be a magazine editor for a food magazine. Im not sure...

Answer 1

I have friends in both fields.

There are tons of J-schools at public universities, so you can get that degree on the cheap. However, actual journalism jobs SUCK. There are so many J-school grads out there, your first (second, and third, ...) job will almost definitely be at some crappy one-section local newspaper. Landing that dream job as a magazine editor is unlikely. Ever.

Culinary school is very very expensive (unless you happen to be a North Carolina resident, in which case you can go to Asheville-Buncombe Tech, home to one of the best culinary programs in the country). On the upside, you'll end up with a decent job (well, not a high-paying one ... but a fun and rewarding one ... if you're into nonstop stress and severe back pain). Good pastry chefs are in high demand, if you're willing to work 3am-noon shifts.

I'd go the culinary school route, but that's me.

Answer 2

Well you have got at least a head start in knowing what areas you are interested in so you might step back and think about the pros's and con's of each. Both are pressure jobs but the pressure comes from different sources. As a writer or an editor you will be facing publication deadlines, editorial deadlines If there is photography involved and you yourself are not the photographer there are photographic deadlines and if the artwork does not arrive in time it can cause your piece to be held over until the next edition or be killed completely if time sensitive. And when you are done it must be to the satisfaction of everyone higher than you on the chain of command or it comes back for rewrite.
Usually a pastry chef need please only himself and the consumer. If he or she is working in a restaurant or bakery the schedule is pretty much set and you just turn out the product required on the list.
If on the other hand you have your own shop while you may have a standard production run you can increase the pressure on your resources which is not too bad unless you over extend
yourself by promising more than you can deliver.
If you still want to write, do a text book on being a pastry chef and listing the the ingredients by weight and giving the yield

Answer 3

Both. Be creative (oh, you already are) and join the two.
Martha Stewart had done it in USA, so can you.
I'd go to school for journalism, and try to learn pastry through an apprenticeship.