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One thing about posting on YouTube is you go around watching plenty of other videos from plenty of other people and you really should leave a constructive comment and a like if you did like the video, but sometimes it's hard to leave a comment eithout tearing someone's head off and starting a flame war. Offline, I'm a chef and have been dealing with food all my life, so I like to think I might know a thing or two about food production. From this experience, I would like to remind everyone that at some point, SOMEONE has touched your food. I don't care what you think at home, but the moment you chastise someone for not wearing gloves in an open kitchen or in a tutorial, you need to remember a few things:
1. We are trained professionals. We are taught to wash our hands all the time. It's ingrained in our schooling and work experience. We wash when we get to work, when we change, before and after handling a food item, after every time we touch our hair, face, or anything else on our freaking body (seriously, watch a chef with other people, they don't touch their face) and literally any time we think "did I wash my hands?" No matter when that is.
2. Gloves are a temporary barrier. They are put on by our hands, in fact, the same hands you were freaking out about a second ago. They cannot and do not replace hand washing and the department of food health and safety say they aren't as clean as regularly washing hands and certainly aren't a replacement.
3. Gloves used in a food setting aren't medical grade gloves, meaning that they aren't sterile, and they are not made in a sterile environment. I don't know how or where they are made and frankly even if they say food safe, that really isn't hugely releaving knowing the standards for food grade equipment in a factory.
4. Gloves are for me, not you. The only time I wear gloves in a kitchen is when I've got some type of cut, burn, or open bit on my hands. Cuts and burns are a part of every day kitchery and when they happen, I treat, medicate, sterilize, and wear a medical grade glove out of a first aid kit so I don't get an infection. I handle a lot of raw meat and here is a slim chance something could have a minor bug.
5. Not every little germ will kill you. There are germs in your cheeses, creams, yogurts, pickles, and vinegars just to name a few. There are a lot of products that are living organisms filled with beneficial or neutral bacteria, moulds, and fungi. People get sick from cross contamination and food being left out for too long at unsafe temperatures. Both can happen with gloves.
Next time you watch a video and think "eww, dirty hands! No gloves!" Chill out and realize that they might know what the fuck they are doing.
/rant
1. We are trained professionals. We are taught to wash our hands all the time. It's ingrained in our schooling and work experience. We wash when we get to work, when we change, before and after handling a food item, after every time we touch our hair, face, or anything else on our freaking body (seriously, watch a chef with other people, they don't touch their face) and literally any time we think "did I wash my hands?" No matter when that is.
2. Gloves are a temporary barrier. They are put on by our hands, in fact, the same hands you were freaking out about a second ago. They cannot and do not replace hand washing and the department of food health and safety say they aren't as clean as regularly washing hands and certainly aren't a replacement.
3. Gloves used in a food setting aren't medical grade gloves, meaning that they aren't sterile, and they are not made in a sterile environment. I don't know how or where they are made and frankly even if they say food safe, that really isn't hugely releaving knowing the standards for food grade equipment in a factory.
4. Gloves are for me, not you. The only time I wear gloves in a kitchen is when I've got some type of cut, burn, or open bit on my hands. Cuts and burns are a part of every day kitchery and when they happen, I treat, medicate, sterilize, and wear a medical grade glove out of a first aid kit so I don't get an infection. I handle a lot of raw meat and here is a slim chance something could have a minor bug.
5. Not every little germ will kill you. There are germs in your cheeses, creams, yogurts, pickles, and vinegars just to name a few. There are a lot of products that are living organisms filled with beneficial or neutral bacteria, moulds, and fungi. People get sick from cross contamination and food being left out for too long at unsafe temperatures. Both can happen with gloves.
Next time you watch a video and think "eww, dirty hands! No gloves!" Chill out and realize that they might know what the fuck they are doing.
/rant
