History of the Kitchen Uniform

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Assessment Task 1: History Of The Chefs Uniform In the hospitality industry, a uniform shows the professionalism of a staff. As chefs, a uniform does not only portraits professionalism but also provides safety and protection too. Kitchen is a hazardous working environment and accidents and injuries are bound to happen anytime. Because of this, the chefs uniform has been designed and improve over the years to prevent and protect a chef in a hazardous kitchen environment. Back in the 16th century, artisans of all types including chefs wore a toque but were often prosecuted. To lessen persecution, some chefs wore the same clothing as the priests that were grey in color to avoid persecution.in the middle 1800’s, chef Marie-Antoine Carême redesigned the uniforms. Carême thought the color white was more appropriate (Sockrider 2010). Escoffier thought the cleanliness of the cook’s uniform is very important because it promoted professionalism (Sockrider 2010). The chef uniform consists of the jacket, pants, apron, hat and neckerchiefs. The double breasted chef jacket and pants are designed to camouflage stains and insulates the body against the heat. As for the hat and neckerchiefs it’s wore to prevent sweat and hair from falling into the food. The chef’s hat or toque blanche is also a way to distinguish a chef’s ranking in the kitchen hierarchy. The pleats and height of the toque tell us the level of accomplishment and expertise of the person wearing it (Green 2011). In today’s world, a chef is expected to know the parts of its uniform and the functions and safety features that comes with it. Besides that, a well-dressed personal helps generate confidence, professionalism and trust form the others. References Sockrider,G 2010, ‘Jackets and torques the history of the chefs uniform’, viewed 20th July 2013,
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