Garde manger

A garde manger (pronounced [gaʁd mɑ̃ʒe]; French) is a cool, well-ventilated area where savory cold dishes (such as salads, hors d'œuvres, appetizers, canapés, pâtés, and terrines) are prepared and other foods are stored under refrigeration.

[1]: 3  Larger hotels and restaurants may have garde manger staff to perform additional duties, such as creating decorative elements of buffet presentation like ice carving and edible centerpieces.

[1]: 4 The term garde manger is also related to the cold rooms inside castles and manor houses where the food was stored.

In the late 1800s, continental cuisine had expanded the work of the garde manger to include the preparation of elaborate buffets of cold food.

[3] However, as a specialized position, the garde manger chef has a higher status in the 21st century, especially as salads and charcuterie became more popular with diners.

[1]: 5–6 In addition to working in restaurants, garde manger chefs are also employed on cruise ships, for room service and banquets in hotels, in private clubs, in school cafeterias, in grocery stores, delis, and other food shops, by caterers, by magazines and other publications who need food styling services, and in product development and testing.

[1]: 6–7  Organization and planning skills are used in both cooking (e.g., having the correct amount of each ingredient at the correct temperatures when the food is prepared) and preparation phases (e.g., knowing how long it will take to plate 200 individual salads and how much refrigerator space is needed to keep them cold until they are served).