The Chef Apprentice

Ever since I started interning at Oliveto, folks have asked: "How are your feet? Is it hard to stand up all day in a commercial kitchen? What shoes do you wear?"

These are good questions. Uncomfortable shoes can make for uncomfortable food. Chefs, cooks and interns must inevitably stand in one place for hours, peeling garlic or shucking beans.

At first, standing all day was difficult. I had been working a desk job right up to my apprenticeship. But I quickly adjusted to eight hours on my feet. I credit that to an old pair of work shoes.

The shoes in question were an old pair of Timberland chukka boots, seen to the left. I purchased these about eight years ago, and they've been through hell. I took them to New Orleans to do some reporting after Katrina devastated the city. They took a licking, and kept on kicking.

I had expected the cooks at Oliveto to wear clogs, and some do, but not many. The shoe of choice seems to be sneakers, followed by Crocs.

In the photo at top, you can see Chef Paul Canales' feet enveloped in a pair of Vans sneakers. Canales seems to wear a different pair of Vans everyday, with a footbed inset to provide better support.

Several considerations should go into kitchen shoes: Do they provide support? Do they protect your toes? Do they allow your feet to breath? Will they result in you tripping or losing a shoe as you dance across the kitchen to save a sauce that is about to boil over?

I like my old Timberlands. They have served me well. Undoubtedly they will help me make more meals before I finally give them the boot. 

Weeks before starting my internship at Oliveto, I began researching the knives I would need to be a swashbuckling chef apprentice.

I owned an old set of Wustof knives, but like a lot of home chefs, I had mistreated them. New knives were essential. They needed to be sharp. They needed to be versatile. They needed to feel comfortable in my hand.

My first step was to consult Paul Canales, the executive chef at Oliveto.

"You need four knives," said Canales. "A 10-inch chef's knife, a paring knife, a seven-inch utility knife and a semi-stiff boning knife. That will get you started."

Like many restaurants, Oliveto owns a number of cleavers, cheese knives and other specialty tools shared by all kitchen employees. But chefs and interns are expected to have their own personal knives. Most wouldn't want it any other way.

Chefs tend to be picky about how their blades are used, sharpened and stored. If all knives were used communally in a kitchen, the skirmishes would be epic. Fights would break out -- knife fights.

To examine the options, Canales graciously allowed me to try out the personal knives that he and other Oliveto chefs were using. In one afternoon, I was able to handle and slice food with a few dozen blades, while picking up tips on knife shops and Web sites.

Go to this continued post to see the knives I purchased that week, along with a few others I've since added. And send me your thoughts. Do you have a favorite knife, or a set of knives, that you consider extraordinary?

Photo by The Bee's Carl Costas