AThitherto considered the retrograde symbol of the housewife in the kitchen, the apron has seen new possible interpretations in recent years. The media coverage of the chefs, the huge audiences for the television competitions, featuring candidates, self-proclaimed war machines at the gates of success, change the look and revalue judgment.
Having become a dagger-drawn competition, gastronomy, a new combat sport, serves the values of its time. We all have in mind these images, where we no longer know very well if the kitchen apron is not merging with the karate outfit. The belt from the front reinforcing the analogy, the cook, adorned with his noble ambition and his sharp utensils, becomes a samurai, a warrior.
The kitchen apron legitimizes its wearer, gives credit to its speeches, its jargon and its anecdotes.
However, entering a restaurant does not quite give the feeling of setting foot on a battlefield or a tatami mat. Even if it means leaving an arm, the parallel here no longer works. If there is a confrontation, it is of a completely different nature. And for good reason, from protective clothing, the apron becomes official clothing ennobled by the luster which the food trades enjoy today.
Like the doctor’s smock, the lawyer’s robe, the office clerk’s blazer and tie, the expert’s glasses and the philosopher’s beard, the kitchen apron legitimizes its wearer, gives credit to its catch of speech, to its jargon and its anecdotes which make up an entire section of contemporary culture, in the face of which the client can feel lost, drowned, intimidated.
At home, the apron is also the subject of an unparalleled reassessment. During the dressing gown during confinement, it can on certain occasions turn into a real superhero cape and a chef’s loincloth.
With the current focus on cooking (the #food is one of the most used hashtags on Instagram), it becomes a kind of stage costume. After introducing the arrival of dishes from a glorious “Ta-dah”, the cook or cook receiving dinner, pulls the chestnuts from the fire by himself or herself by collecting ovations, posts, laurels.
