The Chef’s Hat where did that wierd thing come from?
Monday, March 5th, 2007
by Terry
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With a little research and a lot of wikipedia here is the answer.
Quote from wikipedia on the subject.
A toque blanche (French for “white hat”), often shortened to toque, is a tall, round, pleated, starched white hat worn by chefs. The many folds on a toque blanche are believed to signify the many ways that an egg can be cooked. Many toques have exactly 100 pleats.
The toque most likely originated as the result of the gradual evolution of head coverings worn by cooks throughout the centuries. Their roots are sometimes traced to the casque a meche (stocking cap) worn by 18th-century French chefs. The colour of the casque a meche denoted the rank of the wearer. Boucher, the personal chef of the French statesman Talleyrand, was the first to insist on white toques for sanitary reasons. The modern toque is popularily believed to have originated with the famous French chefs Marie-Antoine Carême and Auguste Escoffier.
