Engineers, computer scientists, chemists, ... they can bust their asses for 4 years in pretty intense college classes, or even 6 years and walk away with a masters degree... but no one calls them Coder Joe or Chemist Jane. Nor can they demand to be called that. But not chef school grads.... uh-uh. You can get certified in a year (some places in 9 months) and by god they get to have that title in front of their name... and... they expect to be called that. Sometimes even in informal settings. Now granted, there are some prestigious 2 and 4 year programs out there, but still... I fail to see the requirement for this "holier than thou" deference. Must be a holdover thing from the French. Frogs.
Being a Chef or cook is an overrated title, profession or activity. I can throw a mashed potato into clam chowder and add my own flair of crystalized ginger and some oysters and even a bonus Frog grinded up, I am now, officially, Chef Jim Gaffordstein, Creepy Van, make that million and become.....Trader Creepy Van Time to Cook, just like Heisenberg, Walter White
I agree probably a holdover from long ago. My pet peeve(actually one of many) is the various title changes for jobs, or where the title is actually useless as an indication of importance. Like a V.P. in the financial industry, everyone is a V.P. or they need to move onto another profession. How about copilots? Now you call them 1st officers, obviously much more important now. Janitors, became custodians and now maintenance technicians. Flight attendants used to be stewardesses. I'm not sure about this one, but I was corrected a couple years ago when I referred to a guy as a lawyer. He told me he is an attorney. I have no idea if this was just a guy who is a dickhead, or weird, but he wasn't joking. The list goes on, and I have occasionally laughed at someone when they corrected me on the terminology for their job.
Well jobs have titles sure... but the only other profession that you address someone by their title is an MD, or perhaps an airline or ship captain. You say "Good morning Doctor". You probably wouldn't say "Good morning janitor" to @MacBookProHo if you saw him rounding up carts in the WMT parking lot. (You'd probably say "Honey put the kids in the car and lock the doors.")