Every Day I'm Ironin'

There is nothing glamorous or even remotely fetching about the Cordon Bleu uniform.

We have to wear our uniforms pretty much the entire time we are at school.  In the demo classes we can skip the hairnet, apron  and side towels, but other than that we are fully suited up in what can best be described as ill-fitting pyjamas.

The uniform consists of a double-breasted chef's jacket (with reversible snaps to hide stains), houndstooth velcro pants (nothing says fashion-forward more than velcro pants), a chef's toque, a long apron, and the ever-sexy safety shoes.  And the uniform needs to be crisp and pressed, not only for each day, but for each class.  The Chef can send you packing it back to the locker room if you have a rumpled or stained uniform.

I understand why we wear the uniform, and I am comforted by the fact that no one looks particularly good in it.  But I do have two major complaints.

The uniform is clearly not designed to fit a woman's body.  I have heard SO many rants in the locker room that I've long since lost track.  The jackets taper towards the hips, which leaves many (most?) girls buying jackets that don't fit.  If it fits in one place, it bags in another, and with only a handful of sizes to choose from you are stuck with the lowest common denominator.

My other complaint is that the uniforms are biased towards right-handed people.  This may seem like a small complaint, but in an environment where one false move can send you sprawling over an open oven door or deep-frying your hands ergonomics are rather important.  The sleeve pocket for pens/spoons/etc is on the left sleeve.  As a person who writes with my left hand, this is a major pain in the ass, especially in the kitchen.  I've long since taught myself to do nearly everything with my right hand because it's easier that way, but you'll have to pry my pen out of my cold, dead left hand.  Would it kill them to make a left-handed or ambidextrous jacket?

But I've been lucky so far. I was able to salvage most of my uniform from Basic Cuisine, and buy a couple of new pieces for this term.  I've only really made a mess of myself a few times (think tomato paste and lobster guts), but I'm still doing a lot more laundry than I'd like.

So every day I'm ironin'!