The word "chef" is adopted from the term chef de
cuisine, the director or head of a kitchen. In English, the title
"chef" in the culinary profession originated in the haute cuisine of
the 19th century. Today it is often used to refer to any professional cook,
regardless of rank, though in most classically defined kitchens, it refers to
the head chef; others, in North American parlance, are "cooks".
