How Is the Chef's Uniform Born?

How was the chef's outfit born?

We meet them many times, sitting at a restaurant table or passing by a pizzeria, during their cigarette break. They stand out from the others for their white coat, with the side buttoning, a bit like a Japanese shirt, and the high hat with a "dome" at the end, to keep their hair in order.

How was the chef's outfit born?

Who are you referring to? To cooks and their catering uniforms.

The restaurant sector, in fact, like several other company sectors, is among those in which employees, at all levels, are required to wear precise work attire which, in the most exclusive and refined contexts are identical for all and branded, while in the more common and commercial ones, instead, they are the prerogative of the staff, as long as they respect certain rules.

So, if you are used to seeing waiters wearing their black suit with matching bow tie, or a dark pencil skirt with a white shirt and comfortable shoe, in the same way, just looking at a simple stylization of toque blanche will immediately bring to mind the profession of a chef.

But where did his estate originate and how did it evolve over time to become the symbol we all know?

Chef outfit

How was the chef's uniform born?

Checkered trousers, double-breasted jacket, neckerchief and white toque, it is inevitable to imagine a chef dressed in this way. But why exactly these garments, with these colors and since when does it exist?

The chef's uniform has very ancient origins, even dating back to the sixteenth century and every part of the look that has become a symbol of this profession has a precise reason for being.

How did the chef's outfit come about?

The checkered trousers was chosen to hide any stains, resulting from splashes during the preparation of the dishes.
The double-breasted jacket, in many cases white, but over time adapted to many colors, has the precise role of insulating the chef's torso from the heat of the stove and protecting it from spilling hot foods. The handkerchief around your neck? It almost no longer exists, except around the neck of some die-hard lover of tradition or of those who don't have time to wipe their sweat with a piece of paper cloth and prefer to wrap it around their throat, to make it absorb and always be dry and in order.

And the hat?

The origin of the toque blanche?

How was the chef's outfit born?

The white toque or chef's hat has a slightly more controversial history, adopted by chefs to defend themselves from the persecutions that often affected the artisan sector during the Middle Ages.

In fact, they used to blend in with the priests of the Orthodox churches, who wore similar hats and long black tunics, in order to escape from the persecutors and save their lives.

How was the chef's outfit born?

History or urban legend? Probably more legend, since history places the birth of this hat in 1823, when the chef Carême of the well-known Carlton House restaurant, in London, at the court of King George IV, designed this hat inspired by that of one of his apprentices.

He was, in fact, so impressed that he personalized it and made it his own, both for hygienic reasons, thus avoiding the unpleasant fall of a hair on the plates, and for reasons of prestige, he was inspired by those of university professors.

How did the chef's outfit come about?

Over time, however, this style has also undergone evolutions and today chef hats take on different shapes ranging from cap to bandana, up to a more traditional toque in plus version modern and stylized.

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