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chef Hats
The most popular symbol for a chef is his 'toque blanche' or hat; the origin of which dates back to the 1600s. The varying ranks among cooks inside the kitchen are distinguished through the sizes of the hats that each chef is wearing. Someone wearing a comparatively tall hat is an executive or sous chef while another one with a shorter hat could be a line cook. The hundred folds of a chef's hat are thought to denote the different ways he can cook eggs. -
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Evolution of Uniforms in the French Gastronomy
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Uniforms in the 1700's
By the mid-1700s chefs throughout Europe were donning wide assortment of headwear. It is a young pastry chef named Marie-Antoine Carême who must be thanked for bringing the white hat fully into culinary tradition. As a young bread and cake maker, he and all the fellow members of Paris’ pastry guild wore white caps, called casque à meche, with white jackets to prevent the ever-present white flour from covering their street clothes. -
The Chef’s Uniform
The outfit as we know it began in 1822, when French artist Marie-Antoine Careme released a sketch called “Le Maitre d’Hotel Francais.” In the portrait, two chefs are depicted as wearing the toque, trousers, a double-breasted jacket and an apron. However, as El Centro College pointed out, this setup wouldn’t become en vogue in the culinary world until 1878. Though modern chefs wear a less formal version, many of these same pieces are still found in their attire. -
Chefs Jacket
The Jacket – The double-breasted jacket was portrayed in Marie-Antoine
Careme’s 1822 illustration, and was in full vogue by 1878. The advantage of these
unique wide-flapped jackets was that if the front of the jacket became soiled, the flaps
could be reversed with the dirty one hidden behind, to create a better
appearance. Thus, the Chef could wear a clean jacket for twice as long. In addition,
there were two layers of protection from spills, splashes, heat and steam. -
Non traditional Uniforms
The traditional chef's uniform may be the standard for our profession, but it's definitely not the law. Since the mid-1980's a legion of chefs and cooks have begun to wear non-traditional "fun" chef's attire. These uniforms run the gamut from pinstriped baggy pants and denim jackets to full blown wildly patterned outfits with chili peppers, flowers, and even the CIA logo. While some chefs may nay-say these new-style uniforms as non-professional, others retaliate that they are more comfortable -
Chefs Uniform in the 2000's
Goodman also recalls chefs becoming more conscious of what they wore back in the early 2000s, when open kitchen layouts became more popular in restaurants. However, the uniforms provided by major brands were largely generic and made from poor quality materials. "They're usually 100-percent polyester and washed with horrible chemicals that are bad for the skin," says Goodman. "They're really cheap, commodity products."
