20/08/2024
Jamie Guardino Cake Design 🥰❤️
WEARING A CHEF’S JACKET DOES NOT MAKE YOU A CHEF
I saw some screenshots about this issue while waiting for my flight back to Manila from Cebu. Can someone show me the original post and why bakers are up in arms about this? I don’t see anything wrong with the above statement alone, but I don’t know the whole story behind this issue. I see it the same as saying “wearing a doctor’s coat doesn’t automatically make one a doctor”. Unless the original post meant something else by it.
A jacket/coat/or simply whites as we call it in the industry is an OCCUPATIONAL GARMENT. It’s a piece of clothing workers in the kitchen wear for protection from splatters, hot stoves and potential burns when working with equipment. It serves a practical purpose. The first white designed by Antoine Carême and later popularized by Escoffier, may have had significance but in the modern kitchen, it doesn’t signify rank or prestige. I can understand if many bakers who have not experienced working in a professional kitchen or gone to culinary school are confused. However, as someone who has worked in a Michelin Star restaurant, I can tell you EVERYONE, EVERYONE wears the same uniform in the kitchen from the head chef, sous, pastry cooks, line cooks, commis, butcher, down to the dishwashers. No special designs for those in higher ranks. We all wore the same uniform because it’s a uniform. No need to “dream” of wearing a jacket, it’s up to you if you want to wear one to bake.
Also, everyone called each other on a first-name basis, and yes, that included our Executive pastry chef and Executive Chef, and the owner who is also a chef. Everyone knew their place, there was no need for titles. We knew who the chefs were, the two heads of each kitchen managing everyone else. They were the captains of our ship, steering us where to go and what to do. The rest of us? Pastry cooks and line cooks, regardless of years of work experience there or culinary school prestige.
It’s a uniform, it’s not that deep.
It doesn’t matter who wears the jacket, it doesn’t make anyone anything. It’s not something you earn to wear, even students wear it. It’s not a badge of honor. However, I do have an issue about one thing—-people who wear jackets OUTSIDE of the kitchen. It’s my biggest pet peeve. As I’ve said, the jacket is a uniform worn INSIDE the kitchen in preparing food. It must be removed upon leaving. Why? Food safety. Imagine wearing it to the restroom, to smoke (I see many cooks do this), to go grocery shopping, to walk around the mall, on a public transport, etc. I was once questioned why I don’t wear a jacket ever since I started judging cooking and baking competitions over 10 years ago until today. “You’re a chef, you should wear a jacket.” Why? Am I making food for customers? I’m here to write scores on a piece of paper. Not wearing it does not make me less of a chef or lose my credentials or even be unprofessional. I simply don’t see the purpose of wearing the uniform outside the kitchen, plain and simple. I’m a practical and logical woman. The only exception would be if I’m conducting a demo for a brand and I’m required to wear one, but for my own classes, I usually don’t.
Our culture loves drama and gossip and our industry is not safe from it, but it doesn’t mean we need to engage in any of it. I don’t think trivial matters like these should be entertained in baking communities, or anything else that can cause division and negative discussion, that includes bashing clients. This industry has more pressing issues that need to be addressed, but no one is talking about:
1. The spread of misinformation.
This is dangerous and does not help new bakers. Please be responsible with what you say or post for your followers. It takes a few seconds to type on Google and check facts before hitting “post”. “Hindi naman ako nag-aral, experience lang.” All the more reason you need to research and be responsible. Blissful ignorance is never an excuse. This is another reason many bakers get into heated discussions because one famous person said something and another says something different. As a follower, it’s also your responsibility to do your own research instead of following someone blindly. No one, I mean no one, knows everything. Not even I. Google is literally free. I worry about the new bakers taking in all this false information being spread around. My issue is with people with massive followings propagating misinformation and unknowing bakers taking that information as fact.
2. The lack of discussion about the business side of baking, and the mindset of people around pricing, profit and value.
3. The lack of discussion about the impact on health of certain products, ingredients and questionable methods some bakers use nowadays. In your desire to make your cakes affordable for your clients, you are putting them at higher risk for potential health issues that will cost them even more.
4. Speaking of health, there is not enough discussion on the importance of baker’s health. This industry has glorified overworking, overbooking, not sleeping, not setting boundaries with clients and not valuing time. Too busy is not a flex.
These are far more important matters that require more discussions, not whether someone deserves to wear a jacket or not. On the topic of the “chef” title, I leave you with what every instructor in culinary school tells the students on the first day of class:
“Every chef is a cook, but not all cooks are chefs.”
The same can be said about pastry chefs and bakers.
But that’s a subject for another discussion. I just landed in Manila, I’m too tired to keep going. To end this post, I advise you all to focus your energies into things that will add value to your life and business. Don’t contribute to toxicity in the community. Goodnight, everyone.
- J
Photo: This is me with Chef Maxime Bilet, nominee James Beard award, and co-author of the book, Modernist Cuisine.
