chef secrets don't eat the bread basketWhile most of the chef secrets in the Food Network Magazine's chef's poll didn't make me gag (though some did!), the admission by three American chefs that they recycle the bread baskets has put me off the free carbs for good.

I always wondered what happened to the bread I didn't eat when I was on the Atkins diet. Perhaps you enjoyed it, unknowing restaurant patron that sat down after I left?

Out of the 25 secrets shared in the article, I'm most impressed by how hard chefs work, and how little nonsense they take from waiters and customers. But if you're a vegan, read on, and beware.

Chefs have expensive taste.
The restaurant chefs most often cited as the best in the country was The French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley. It ought to be — dinner there is $240 per person, before wine.

...and yet they like fast food.
Their favorite chain: Wendy’s. Culinary degrees aren’t necessarily the norm. Just half the chefs surveyed graduated from a cooking school. The rest got their training the old-fashioned way, by working their way up through the kitchen ranks.

Roaches are more common than you think.
Yes, 75% of chefs said they’ve seen roaches in the kitchen. And yet, chefs swear their kitchens are clean. On a scale of 1 to 10, 85% of chefs ranked their kitchens an 8 or higher for cleanliness.

Only 13% of chefs have seen a cook do unsavory things to a customer’s food.
The most unbelievable tale: “Someone once ran a steak through a dishwasher after the diner sent it back twice. Ironically, the customer was happy with it then.”

“Vegetarian” is open to interpretation.
About 15% of chefs said their vegetarian dishes might not be completely vegetarian. Beware if you’re one of those super-picky vegan types: One chef reported seeing a cook pour lamb’s blood into a vegan’s primavera.

Does this make you want to eat out, or stay home?


Image via snowpea&bokchoi/Flickr