In Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, a television programme in which he helps struggling restaurants zoosh up their service and attract more customers, he sometimes comes across as a ranting maniac. But he's also a sweetie, providing encouragement and being genuinely excited, happy and proud when things come together.
One of the most eye-opening elements of the show is the appalling degree to which restaurants let unhygienic practices slip into their kitchens. Some of the scariest practices are also the most common, such as kitchen staff not washing their hands after coming back from the loo or a smoke break, using bare hands instead of gloves, and picking up food that has been on the floor and popping it back on the plate (sometimes it goes back onto the stove because "the heat will kill the germs").
Customer-facing staff are not exempt from bad habits: bartenders pop in olives and slices of lemon after handling money and that icky cloth used to wipe the counter top, and waiters handle utensils after wiping down tables (with another manky cloth) and handling money and menus. In addition, kitchen staff often come to work when they are sick and, as has been suggested above, hand washing is not the most common of practices, so you can just imagine all the coughing, sneezing and nose blowing going on above your food.
Apparently, these are considered "normal" in restaurant kitchens and shouldn't cause any undue concern. Even rodents and cockroaches are normal, so you shouldn't panic when you see some. The truly gross things, like staff bathing in the restaurant's kitchen sink, are (hopefully) few and far between.
Practice what you preach
Before reacting with shock and horror, we should first look at the bad habits in our home kitchens. If we're content to operate in less than hygienic standards, can we really expect a busy restaurant kitchen to be impeccable all the time?
According to a US study that appeared in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 7 household kitchens are not up to code. In the online study, which was conducted by the Los Angeles County of Public Health, 13,000 adults were asked a number of questions about the state of their kitchens at home. The results: 26 percent of home kitchens have dirty shelves and cabinets, 36 percent have faulty fridge thermometers, 28 percent don't take off their jewellery or ensure their nails are clean when cooking, and 20 percent admit to having flies, cockroaches or rodents.
The scary part: as respondents were people who are concerned about the state of their kitchens they already make an effort to maintain certain standards of cleanliness. This means that most of the household kitchens in the States are far dirtier than the study suggests.
Help is at hand
Over the past few years, health departments have expressed greater interest in the state of public kitchens (possibly Gordon Ramsay played an unwitting role in this). In the UK, Germany and Australia, many cities have implemented naming and shaming policies to keep the public informed and to provide additional incentives for kitchens to stay clean.
The drive doesn't only apply to restaurant kitchens, but also includes hospitals and schools.
What you need to watch out for:
If you want to know what other dirty kitchen practices you need to watch out for, keep reading:
• Multi-purpose oil: many restaurants use the same oil to fry meat, fish, vegetables and certain puddings.
• Recycling chips: we've long suspected it and it's true.
• Serving rotten meat: it's common for restaurants to serve meat that is a little beyond its best-before date to customers how want their steaks well done. Rare to medium is your best and safest bet.
• Serving border line fish: restaurants don't always get food deliveries on the weekend, as a result, the fish you order on a Sunday night has more than likely been there in the fridge for a couple of days.
• Watch out for specials: some restaurants use specials to get rid of food that is about to go bad.
• Don't walk in 10 minutes before closing time: kitchens are often in the process of being cleaned at that stage and it's likely that your food will end up with some unexpected seasoning, such as drain cleaner, bleach and other cleaning materials. Furthermore, the ingredients will no longer be at their best.
While all of the above may make you second guess your romantic night out, bear in mind that restaurant kitchens are subject to spot inspections by health regulatory bodies, so bad habits aside, most kitchens are not the nightmare depicted in Ramsay's show.
Besides, your own kitchen is probably not up to scratch, so you may as well enjoy a well earned break from the stove.
Phil writes about food for the South Africa travel & adventure directory, Leeulekker.
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