Back in the mid 19th century, checkered chef pants were part of almost every chef’s uniform, but these days it is rather common to see chefs wear pants with different colors. In those days, checkered chef pants served the vital purpose of hiding stains because kitchens were dirty and dark places where white or black pants would easily get messy. With the modern kitchens of today and the fact that chefs and cooks have become better at preparing food over the years without spilling grease or gravy on themselves, there hasn’t really been a need to put on checkered chef pants that much.
So why own a pair now? Because the pants are not outdated in modern times, but classics every chef or cook should own. Here are a few reasons why.
Traditional Look
If you want to go for the traditional look, which is trendy these days, wearing checkered pants is the way to go. The traditional chef’s uniform consists of a torque (chef hat), double-breasted white coat and checks pants. It was made popular by Georges Escoffier, a culinary genius who modernized and popularized a number of French cooking methods. This look is historically significant and should give anyone who wears it a sense of pride and belonging in the world of chefs and cooks.
Hide Stains Pretty Well
The checkered pants of today evolved from the houndstooth pattern of old chef pants, which was a pattern of alternating, jagged black and white lines. (When viewed from afar, no one can tell the difference between a check pattern and houndstooth pattern). As mentioned earlier, the checks are great at camouflaging food and grease stains because the eyes find it difficult to notice such things on this kind of pattern. This is very advantageous because it makes one look clean and professional even after a busy day in the kitchen. So if you are a chef or cook who works in an extremely busy kitchen were spills and splatter are common, these types of pants are perfect for that environment.
Go Well with Other Outfit Items
Some chefs wear checkered chef pants because they realized that they can match a number of kitchen apparel. For example, these pants can go well with both black and white coats, shirts and shoes. Even a number of long aprons match checkered pants extremely well.
Quality Chef Pants
Along with the benefits that the checkered pattern offers, at the end of the day, these are chef pants. This means they also come with the other benefits as well, such as safety (since they are made from a material that is flame and heat resistant), comfort, manoeuvrability and they keep the chef cool when the kitchen gets hot since they are breathable.
Checkered pants are classics, and every chef and cook needs to get themselves a pair or two for the reasons mentioned above. They are both functional and stylish in these modern times and will probably be worn for more generations to come.
