Chef is a systems integration framework that can be used to automate cloud infrastructure. It defines infrastructure as code and allows for repeatable configuration. Chef works by having a central Chef server that manages nodes. Nodes check in with the server to sync cookbooks, which contain recipes, definitions, and other configuration details. This ensures all nodes remain in the desired state defined in the cookbooks. A simple way to try Chef is by using Vagrant with Chef Solo, which allows setting up and configuring a virtual development environment on your local machine.