By TERESA J. FARNEY
THE GAZETTE
July 25, 2007 - 6:26AM

Like a lot of American teenagers, Jeremy Miller is working at a restaurant
for the summer.

For him, however, it's more than just a seasonal job. It's a steppingstone
to a culinary career, inspired by someone he's never met:

"Bobby Flay," Miller says of the Food Network celebrity chef. "He's my idol.
I love the way he plates food on his shows."

To be fair, the recent Palmer High School graduate also credits his mother
and grandmother for getting him interested in cooking. But Miller's tip of
the hat to Flay underscores how big an influence the nearly 14-yearold Food
Network and its stable of celebrity chefs have become for a growing number
of teens.

Consider that the number of accredited culinary programs in the U.S. has
nearly doubled, from 89 in 1997 to 174 now, according to Candice Childers of
the American Culinary Federation. And one high school program in Colorado
has nearly quadrupled its enrollment in nine years.

"And yes, the Food Network has helped fuel these programs. All of the entire
industry should be thankful to them," says Mary Mino, president of the
Colorado Restaurant Association Education Fund in Denver.

The association's high school program, ProStart, offers a twoyear
school-to-career curriculum to teach students food-service basics. Since
1998, when the program was introduced in Colorado, enrollment has grown from
175 to more than 650 annually.

"There's been a big increase in the number of students who are interested in
the ProStart program," says Sharon Nemeth, the program director at Palmer
High School. "I have a waiting list."

Certainly, some of these aspiring chefs just like to cook, but a few
probably can't help but be lured by the charmed life of the Food Network
headliners, many of whom have been accorded something approaching rockstar
status. They have their own TV shows. They're surrounded by famous people
and luxurious settings. They get guest shots on Leno and Letterman. Everyone
wants their autographs.

No matter that most chefs don't live the life of royalty - something the
ProStart program tries to address. In the two-year program, Nemeth says, the
students study frontof-the-house and back-of-thehouse management, including
customer service, food safety, kitchen basics, equipment, purchasing,
nutrition and food preparation.

"We learned all aspects of the restaurant and food-service industry," says
Miller, who went through the ProStart program at Palmer and will attend the
Pikes Peak Community College culinary program in the fall.

Even if teens realize they might not be the next Emeril, the Food Network
has put foodservice work on their career radar, and they definitely know the
network's high-profile chefs.

"I love Rachael Ray and her 30-minute meals - and Emeril. I also like Paula
Deen and Giada," said Emily Strempke, a Palmer High School junior who will
enter the ProStart program in the fall.

It's basically a matter of inspiration, not aspiration, however: Strempke
most likely would have pursued a culinary career without the Food Network
factor.

"At first, I was thinking of being a teacher, but I really love cooking,"
she says. "My brother-in-law is a manager at Outback, and he suggested I
think about a culinary career after I cooked a meal for the family."

Strempke is already starting to plan for life beyond high school. "I'm
thinking of going to Johnson & Wales (culinary school in Denver)," she says.
"I went to the Culinary Expo there and thought they had an amazing program.
They have courses on how to open your own restaurant, which is what I want
to do."

Sixteen-year-old Sydney Frederick, who attends Air Academy High School, also
plans to pursue a food-service career, although the Food Network has little
to do with it. She will sometimes catch Giada de Laurentiis or Rachael Ray
on the Food Network, but her inspiration was closer to home.

"My mom is a great cook, and she played a big role in helping me learn to
cook," Frederick says.

Because both of her parents work, she often helps with meal preparation -
especially in the dessert department.

"I love baking and want to be a pastry chef," she says. "I bake cookies,
cakes, pies, cookie-type bars and just recently some Rice Krispies Treats.

As long as she loves what she's doing and doesn't aspire to celebrity
status, she should be OK, according to award-winning chef and cookbook
author Jacques Pépin - himself a celebrity TV chef. He gave a few words of
caution on the topic during the recent Food & Wine Magazine Classic in
Aspen.

"If you want to be a chef so you can have your own TV show, you may be very
disappointed," he told a group of young chefs who had received the Culinary
Institute of America's Best Student Chef awards. "Being a top chef takes
years of hard work in hot kitchens. Very few actually become celebrity
chefs. Be a chef because you love the craft, not so you can be a superstar."

Not only do chefs put in long hours in hot kitchens, they also work weekends
and holidays, taking away time from friends and family.

But once the bug bites, most who enter the culinary field don't turn back.

"There was a study done by CSU tracking our ProStart grads from the class of
2003 to see how many had stayed in the field," Mino says. "Only a fraction
had changed their minds about culinary work."