# What do you wear?



## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

Hello, I am wondering what those of you who cook for a living but are not professional chefs wear. Doesn't anyone make clothing that says, "no, we're not chefs, but we're still proud of what we do?"


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

My kitchen outfit includes a tastefully faded blue apron, accented with splotches and greasy spots that no amount of Tide or Spray-'n-Wash will take out. Footwear: for everyday, I'm likely to be barefoot (no lectures, please) or wearing whatever I wore to work. When we have company, I may add a set of three little pewter pins (spatula, fork, T-bone steak) that I picked up on sale at a local kitchenware store. I'll also wear some clog-like shoes if it's a big mishigas meal like Thanksgiving. One last touch: there's that distinctive glaze of sweat on my brow for just the right glow!


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## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

When I'm at work I wear my uniform, which is a black work shirt and black rugby pants and a green apron, and I also have a black beret. at home though it's another story, I'm usually only wearing a pair of jeans when I'm in the house, if I decide to cook out in the yard, I'll do the shirt and shoes thing, but inside, with no copmpany coming over, I don't worry as much.


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## snakelady1 (Mar 7, 2001)

I wear 5 different kinds of pants white with red peppers, fresh veggies, roses,tropical parrots,and black. Head gear right now is a bandana and the top is a white t shirt. Clean aprons every day and to go out into the dining room I have a pressed white Chefs coat with my name embroidered on, head gear for going out into the dining room is a baseball cap with the logo of the restaurant on it. I have also cooked in costume for a victorian tea at christmas time. As time goes by I realize it is my confidence that makes great not my uniform.    When my bakery opens I am looking at a logo polo type shirt to be worn by the staff.


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Love denim. Chef's jacket and pants. My footwear gear consists of Indian mocassins!



Sorry, I don't cook for a living either. I misread...AGAIN!

[ September 01, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

Oops... I don't really cook for a living, but life would be really boring with out cooking! Sorry... didn't read PastaChef's original post too closely.


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

But Mezzaluna, I loved your post. Especially the no shoes part. If I could work with no shoes I'd be in heaven  Snakelady1, you're a pro and deserve to wear real chef's clothes. I've been wearing white hospital scrubs, and of course, a clean apron every day and sometimes twice. Does that outfit sound appropriate? I also wear good shoes, also white with prescription inserts. People sometimes mistake me as a health care worker


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

In the morning when it's time to make scones I'm usually in my pj. 

After that I ressemble Mezza except my apron is green and I have no pewter pins.

I would love to have is something resembling a surgeon's cap to keep my hair out of the soup.


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

LOL, Iza! If you want to go that route, there are hair nets. My first boss tried to pull that one on me. After a three year battle, and her term was up, I showed her that hair restraints include rubber bands, scrunchies, hair spray and barrettes. Then I told her that she was jealous because we had more hair than she did. Whoops!  Oh well, she WAS leaving. My hair is long, so I wear it in a pony tail at work. I think at home I'd win the frump contest, hands down. I cook in a nightgown and slippers.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

I know Pasta but a hairnet wouldn't look as cool.  

I usually have my hair in a pony tail but I still manage to loose one or two.

I did enjoy your hair story!


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## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

Iza, I think your probably looking for a commis cap, I have a few of them, I think they are the best hats for the kitchen, you can check out your local uniform supply place, and if you can't find one there, they are real easy to make, I get my mom to sew me different ones for different events, like on Canada Day I got her to make a whole bunch for all the guys at work, out of a maple leaf print fabric.


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## greg (Dec 8, 1999)

I wear a chef's coat and "chefwear" brand chef's pants. Pastachef, feel free to buy some chef's coats, unless you find the scrubs to be more comfortable. I've got cooks working for me (I'm a sous chef) that wear chef's coats that are nowhere near to deserving wearing one as you!


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

Thank you, Greg. That was sweet of you to say. But I would feel like an imposter dressing up in mommie's clothes  I have too much respect for the title - Chef. I guess the scrubs will be okay.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Thanks CoolJ, I'll look for commis cap. I'll check if I can find a pattern at the fabric store.

It would look great with fabric like those:



















[ September 02, 2001: Message edited by: Iza ]


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

Darn! I wish I could sew. I'd LOVE scrubs in those patterns


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## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

Iza, here's a pattern for chef clothes, there isn't a commis cap in this one, but I'm sure you'll be able to find one, my pattern was made by cutting a cap apart and tracing it on to a couple of pieces of photo copy paper. Anyway the pattern to look for is McCalls #2233.


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

Thanks for the pattern number, CoolJ! It hadn't occurred to me to make clothing for cooking (notice I didn't say 'chef's clothes'- like Pastachef, I take the title too seriously). Time to drag out the sewing machine and have a little fun in time for Thanksgiving dinner! Pastachef, I had to laugh with you at the idea of cooking in a nightgown: in winter, a pink flannel one is my at-home uniform.


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

Oooo, Mezzaluna...I'd be so jealous if I could see those cooking clothes you're going to make. I hope you can post a photo. It's getting close to that 'flannel' nightgown time of year. I LOVE flannel nightgowns


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## pollyg (Mar 12, 2001)

I wear normal chef's pants, a black tee-shirt, black commis hat and a long, usually black apron.
I also have a couple of blue and white stripy aprons that they wear in England.
A couple made their way back home with me. In Australia if the head chef decides that chef's whites are the uniform then everyonr wears them, whether you are qualified or not. But increasingly, people are going with tee-shirts etc.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Thank you CoolJ! I'll go shopping tomorrow. If McCall makes cooking clothes, surely other pattern companies do. Maybe I'll fnid the cap in it. Shouldn't be too hard to sew. 

If I can find fabric that cool Pastachef I'll try to make you a commis cap too.


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## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

I just remembered something I was taught during my apprenticeship. student cooks wear chef coats with white buttons, and certified chefs wear coats with black buttons. apparently the different color buttons signify the certification level. I probably should have shared this tidbit of information earlier, but you know how sometimes you are taught something, and it lays dormant in the back of your brain, and then one day, your're like oh yeah I remember that ?. thats what happened.


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

That's interesting CoolJ.

Where do *snaps* rank in the hierarchy?


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

LOL, Kimmie! Iza, would the commis cap look okay with my flannel?  On the serious side, I don't even know what a commis cap is.


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Pastachef,

I think a commis cap is a pillbox type hat, but don't quote me on this one!


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Pasta it looks a bit like this, it's the best picture I found.










[ September 04, 2001: Message edited by: Iza ]


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Too funny Iza. I was thinking of the Beanie Cap - Click here for image


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

Hmmm. That one reminds me of the time I was mad at the house director about hair nets and wore a dew rag for spite. I even baked a cake in the Hobart bowl shaped like a half of a watermelon and decorated it as such. I colored it pink inside and used raisins for the seeds. I even brought in a dew rag for the housekeeper and assistant cook. The girls laughed at us so hard...and in walks the slave driver  Lucky for me, she laughed and asked where hers was. Now THAT was funny, because the only thing she ever moved was her lips!


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

That pillbox hat would be pretty useless as a hair control device Kimmie. But as a fashion statement it's pretty cool. 

Pasta: 
  

[ September 05, 2001: Message edited by: Iza ]


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## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

That's the one we wear at the restaurant Kimmie. Actually that's what they wear in most of the restaurants I've been to around here. I don't really understand this t-shirt trend; there's a good reason cooks should wear long sleeves. It's prevented me from burning my own arms more times than I can count. Can you imagine turning the eggplant way at the back of the grill with no long sleeves to protect you? Ouch! I'm all for covering up!


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Really Anneke, it's my very favorite. At the cooking school, I always wished they gave us the "beanie cap" instead of a chef's toque, which I always found idiotic for foodies to wear...

How do you deal with your hair?


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## pastachef (Nov 19, 1999)

In all honesty, the commis is cute. Anneke, aren't the long sleeves really hot? I'm so short that I have to use a stool to get to the back of the grill anyway. If I wore a white chef's coat I would get the sleeves dirty and THAT would upset me way too much. Do you all manage to keep your coats clean all day?


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## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

Nope, the coats get quite dirty. Better on my coat than on me, considering that most of the stains are grease that was hot when it landed there! Sure, it gets pretty hot but I don't really notice it when the pressure is on.

Kimmie, about the hair, I have long hair so I just tie it back and make a pseudo-bun just below the hat. With half a gallon of hair spray, there's no chance of me losing my hair in the soup kettle! I could never understand why in some establishments they require people with long hair to wear hair nets, whereas short haired people get away with wearing nothing. If the hair is tied up, it won't go anywhere! If it's short and loose, it's completely free to fall in the food... One of life's mysteries I guess!
By the way, I always hated those toques too; we have to wear them at school.  Actually, they are cooler than the commis hat so it does make some kind of sense I suppose..

[ September 05, 2001: Message edited by: Anneke ]


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Well Anneke, I will stick with my beanie hat too. I have long hair as well so I braid it, then fold it in two; it holds and doesn't go anywhere.

Have you noticed, when there's a hair in the food, it always turns out to be short hair??



[ September 06, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]


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## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

I was just gonna say....


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## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

Hi Babas, welcome to the board! I don't think it's legislation here but where I work, they clean our uniforms too. About those chef hats, you are right, they are lighter and disposable. However, the minute you lean forward they inevitably hit the shelves above your head or something and they always tip or fall off. Very annoying! 

[ September 06, 2001: Message edited by: Anneke ]


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

Welcome to the Cafe, Babas! Where in Sweden are you? I was in Lund for 5 weeks one summer, taking a university class. Wonderful experience. What's new on the food front in Sweden?


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## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

Anneke, I don't know if the labor laws are different from province to province, but in BC, if your employer provides you with a uniform, they either have to wash it for you or pay you to wash it your self. I get twenty five cents a shift for laundry from my employer.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

I found pattern 2233 today. No commis' cap, but I did find a surgeon cap in a scrub patterrn. Now if I could only get my hand on the dessert fabric.


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