"Today, thanks to the success of The Bear, you can literally buy a Carmy-inspired starter pack, intended for Halloween: one's got the blue apron and signature white t-shirt, another's got the apron and a sheet of temporary tattoos. That - and a pair of Birkenstock Tokio Super Grip clogs - is all you need to be clocked as a chef today."
"Twenty years ago, things weren't so different: That same blue Bragard apron already had its hold on a generation of rising chefs, though it was more iPod than iPhone. We asked chefs who were on the come-up in the early '00s to dig back into their memories and weigh in on what one might expect to find in a tote bag slung on a knife-tattooed arm in 2005."
""I was living the lifestyle that I thought all chefs led: I worked as many hours as possible, I stayed out late in Chinatown every single night, I worshipped Marco Pierre White and had a copy of White Heat in my bag at all times." - Jamie Bissonnette (then: Eastern Standard; now: BCB3 Hospitality)"
Blue Bragard aprons served as a visible badge among rising chefs in the early 2000s, anchored to a generation that favored iPods over iPhones. The era mixed practical kit and personality: cookbooks like Marco Pierre White's White Heat were common, as were durable Birkenstock clogs and Japanese knives as part of a growing knife culture. Smoking in alleyways was a normalized vice for many cooks. Contemporary media and shows like The Bear have made chef gear and aesthetics more mainstream, spawning Carmy-inspired starter packs with aprons, shirts, temporary tattoos, and branded clogs.
Read at Eater
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