Been puzzling me for a while.
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As others have mentioned, most chefs do not actually wear those hats. Even in many world-class restaurants you won’t see such hats. It is simply too cumbersome and not particularly comfortable.
The tall multi-fold hats that we associate with chefs has a history dating back to the 1700s but it wasn’t until the early 1800s that the hat become standardized by Chef Marie-Antoine Careme, and then made popularized by Chef Auguste Escoffier. Since much of the culinary world used French chefs and kitchens as their inspiration, the hats eventually started to be seen in kitchens all around the world.
The color white was decided because it gives the appearance of cleanliness. The different heights of the hat often represent the rank within a kitchen, with the tallest hat belonging to the head chef. And the 100 folds within the hat are said to represent 100 different ways to cook an egg.
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