A cook prepares food for consumption. He or she prepares all kinds of dishes including salads, entrees and desserts, plus sandwiches and snacks. There are many different kinds of cooks but all do generally the same thing which is to prepare food. There are cooks who specialize in sauces or pastries or desserts and others who specialize in ethnic foods such as Chinese, among whom there are further specialties such as Cantonese, Mandarin and Schezuan, French, Japanese, Italian and others. Cooks are employed in restaurants, hospitals, hotels and many other places.
Some people even have their own private cooks.
Cooks are trained in many ways. Some learn as apprentices from other cooks. However, those who work in first class restaurants and hotels are usually trained in cooking schools of which there are many. A supervisory cook, one who supervises a number of other cooks, is called a chef. He was hired by many people to provide cakes and pastries for important occasions such as weddings, parties, even state dinners at the Executive Mansion.