Whether they are a private chef that cooks personalized meals for two in someone’s cozy cottage, or a line cook at a local restaurant you may not realize that being a chef is only part of what they do. Preparing your food is not the only thing they do. Sanitation is in their nature and a major priority to maintain not just great tasting food, but cleanliness of their stations to eliminate the potential for contamination. Aside from keeping their work spaces clean, these food service industry workers also have to sort through their ingredients before they even turn on the stove.
Deciding between what fruits, vegetables and meats are at their prime and ensuring the best quality is a meticulous job. But what happens to the food or materials that have turned? It is the cooks that are ultimately responsible for the donation of millions of pounds of food to local shelters, food pantries and soup kitchens. Cooks use every possible scrap that they can and waste nothing when it comes to their meals, but when there are leftovers as the restaurants close their doors, they recycle their leftovers, donate what they can and only throw away what absolutely has to be. Those in this line of work rarely get the “attaboys” they deserve and you rarely come into contact with them, but they are the behind the scenes multitaskers and garbage men of the kitchen. Even though it is the waiter that brings your food out, just know that there is someone else behind the employees only door that help take out the trash and recycle for a greater cause.