Ren Faire Feast Kitchen Video

[Porthos]

My daughter shot video all season long in the Southern Feast Kitchen. She put together this video to give people a glimpse into what we do. You'll see a fat old guy with suspenders in a few shots. That is yours truly, Porthos Potwatcher.

 

A Glimpse Into The Feast Kitchen  by Glynnis Gonzalez.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Porthos (log)

[Anna N]

 That is quite the operation. Thanks for sharing.

[Porthos]

When we start out on Saturday mornings both the veggie cooler and the dairy cooler (shown) as well as the meat cooler are packed to the top.

 

Brian donated a pineapple corer/slicer and that really makes preparing the fresh pineapple MUCH easier.

 

@andiesenji Recognize the awesome melon slicer?

[Lisa Shock]

whoa, cutting unwashed oranges with bare hands on a RED cutting board....

(three health code violations bundled into one activity)

 

Lots of bare hands there -the only gloves were on the person tossing sauce on red meat.

 

Also, watermelon on a blue board is also generally frowned upon.

 

Looks like fun, but, I'd invest in more gloves and train staff about cross-contamination and the color-coded cutting board system.

[Porthos]

Bare hands are legal in California. We have a proper hand-washing sink that we do use. Some of the people who cook or have cooked in this kitchen have their Serve-safe certification. We don't take cleanliness and safety lightly.

 

We don't use color-coded cutting boards; my favorite cutting board is found in Target - the Kitchen Achitek red board has a pattern of non-skid bumps on the back side.

 

I am the only person that handles raw meat. Raw chicken never touches a cutting board. After prepping raw beef the board and my knife are washed immediately using our best approximation of a 3-compartment sink. Sanitizer "sink" is bleach according to CURFFL (yes, we use test strips) and items are left in it for a minimum of 30 seconds per CURFFL. We feed 80 people a day. If we were screwing up I think after 15 years in the kitchen, running it for the last 8, we would know.

 

 

ETA: We do not sell to the public. We feed volunteer re-enactors.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Porthos (log)

[chromedome]

5 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

Lots of bare hands there -the only gloves were on the person tossing sauce on red meat.

 

Gloves are clean until they leave the box (the first time, that is...I've seen soiled gloves put back *into* the box). After that, a gloved hand or a bare hand is exactly as sanitary as that person's training and work habits dictate. 

 

Glove laws are popular because they give the appearance of sanitation, but they do not ensure the reality. 

[gfweb]

53 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Gloves are clean until they leave the box (the first time, that is...I've seen soiled gloves put back *into* the box). After that, a gloved hand or a bare hand is exactly as sanitary as that person's training and work habits dictate. 

 

Glove laws are popular because they give the appearance of sanitation, but they do not ensure the reality. 

 

If the worker's head isn't right, sanitation rules are pointless.

I've watched (as a non-customer) a gloved hand pick a nose and go right back to making a Subway sandwich. 

[Duvel]

51 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Gloves are clean until they leave the box (the first time, that is...I've seen soiled gloves put back *into* the box). After that, a gloved hand or a bare hand is exactly as sanitary as that person's training and work habits dictate. 

 

Glove laws are popular because they give the appearance of sanitation, but they do not ensure the reality. 

Semi off-topic:

I worked in an R&D lab handling very toxic (or even uncategorized) chemicals on a day to day basis. We used all the appropriate gloves (4 different kinds). One of the technicians however decided that in order to better protect him he wanted to wear an extra set of nitrile gloves on top of his protection gloves all the time - and always the same set. He went so far as to touch non-lab installations (door handles) with it, because with gloves everything was "safe" (for him, of course). He got three warnings by the end of the week and I had him transferred to a different lab by the next month.

Gloves may provide protection for the individual, but not to the environment that individual is working in. Same for the gloves in the kitchen.

[andiesenji]

10 hours ago, Porthos said:

My daughter shot video all season long in the Southern Feast Kitchen. She put together this video to give people a glimpse into what we do. You'll see a fat old guy with suspenders in a few shots. That is yours truly, Porthos Potwatcher.

 

A Glimpse Into The Feast Kitchen  by Glynnis Gonzalez.

 

Terrific film.  Very efficient handling of diverse foods.  I did see the big knife in action...

[Lisa Shock]

The issue for me is the bacteria hiding deep within the pores of the skin. A while back, a research study was done showing that paper towels were better for drying hands than blow dryers in that they left less bacteria on the skin. People often rub their hands under the blower and in doing so, push skin oils and bacteria up to the surface. " When hands were rubbed, bacteria on the hands increased significantly after 15 seconds of use." So, when people rub their hands or put other sorts of pressure on the skin, bacteria are forced up to the surface. This means that the more time spent between hand washings, like when prepping a huge amount of one type of food, the more bacteria is on a barehanded cook's hands. -And, much more is present than on a properly gloved person's hands.

 

Just because one person put dirty gloves back into a box once does not mean that the entire food service industry should abandon glove use. Anything can be ruined by poorly trained, uncaring, or uneducated individuals not properly performing their jobs. It doesn't mean we should toss the rubric out the window, it means the teaching system needs to be re-evaluated. (and probably the HACCP plan as well)

 

I was trying to point out that the one person using gloves was clearly trying to keep sauce off of his hands rather than protecting the raw food which did not require handling with gloves. (which appears to be a bit contrary to the usual concerns behind food safety procedures)

[chromedome]

On 05/07/2017 at 1:21 AM, Lisa Shock said:

The issue for me is the bacteria hiding deep within the pores of the skin. A while back, a research study was done showing that paper towels were better for drying hands than blow dryers in that they left less bacteria on the skin. People often rub their hands under the blower and in doing so, push skin oils and bacteria up to the surface. " When hands were rubbed, bacteria on the hands increased significantly after 15 seconds of use." So, when people rub their hands or put other sorts of pressure on the skin, bacteria are forced up to the surface. This means that the more time spent between hand washings, like when prepping a huge amount of one type of food, the more bacteria is on a barehanded cook's hands. -And, much more is present than on a properly gloved person's hands.

 

Just because one person put dirty gloves back into a box once does not mean that the entire food service industry should abandon glove use. Anything can be ruined by poorly trained, uncaring, or uneducated individuals not properly performing their jobs. It doesn't mean we should toss the rubric out the window, it means the teaching system needs to be re-evaluated. (and probably the HACCP plan as well)

 

I was trying to point out that the one person using gloves was clearly trying to keep sauce off of his hands rather than protecting the raw food which did not require handling with gloves. (which appears to be a bit contrary to the usual concerns behind food safety procedures)

I'm familiar with the study you cite. Another, conducted more recently, tested numerous hand dryers to assess how far they distribute pathogen-containing droplets. If you're interested, the Dyson AirBlade is the current champ. IIRC, it could transport pathogens up to 30 m/100ft, though there are relatively few pathogens that can survive long on inorganic surfaces in the open air. Either way, I'm a big fan of paper towels as opposed to the huff-and-puff machines. 

 

Just to be clear, I'm not anti-glove and don't advocate for their non-use. My primary point was that in the absence of closer scrutiny (and mandatory glove laws), "glove/no glove" tells you little about how safely the kitchen is run. 

 

As for your last point, well yeah...absent a mandatory glove law, keeping a given food off your hands is a perfectly good and valid reason for using them. At home, for me personally, it's often the deciding factor.

[chromedome]

One further point I'll mention is that a gloved hand provides a perfect environment (closed, warm, humid) for bacterial growth. Many training programs don't adequately address the necessity of scrupulous handwashing after glove use, and between glove changes. 

[Anna N]

37 minutes ago, chromedome said:

As for your last point, well yeah...absent a mandatory glove law, keeping a given food off your hands is a perfectly good and valid reason for using them. At home, for me personally, it's often the deciding factor.

Yep.  That is the main reason I keep gloves in my kitchen. It is not usually still edible food that gives me the heebie-jeebies and causes me to reach for the gloves but more likely something that was once edible.

[Porthos]

50 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Yep.  That is the main reason I keep gloves in my kitchen. It is not usually still edible food that gives me the heebie-jeebies and causes me to reach for the gloves but more likely something that was once edible.

 

Both at home and at faire I normally have both nitrile gloves and the cheapy 2 for a penny plastic food-handling gloves (1500 for about $8.00). I use the plastic gloves for quick handling of raw foodstuffs since it makes washing my hands after handling much easier. The nitrile gloves are for both cleaning and longer-term handling of raw foods. I just thought about how my blood-borne pathogen training carried over and changed how I remove gloves in the kitchen to lower the exposure to the nasty stuff. ETA: I keep nitrile gloves at me FIL's house also.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Porthos (log)

[pastrygirl]

4 hours ago, chromedome said:

One further point I'll mention is that a gloved hand provides a perfect environment (closed, warm, humid) for bacterial growth. Many training programs don't adequately address the necessity of scrupulous handwashing after glove use, and between glove changes. 

 

Yes!  I hate sweaty glove hands!  So gross.

 

I'll admit it, I am guilty of frequent bare hand contact.  Sometimes gloves just get in the way, mostly I'd rather wash my hands and compost a paper towel than add more nitrile or latex or whatever to the landfill - my plastic wrap usage is bad enough! 

 

But seeing other people not using gloves can still strike a chord.  There's a chocolatier who frequently posts pics of his kids in his commercial kitchen on social media- the little girl with crazy hair garnishing caramel truffles with salt is super cute but inappropriate for food production on multiple levels. 

 

 

[lindag]

People often don't know where to draw the line when it comes to their kids.

[Porthos]

6 hours ago, chromedome said:

One further point I'll mention is that a gloved hand provides a perfect environment (closed, warm, humid) for bacterial growth. Many training programs don't adequately address the necessity of scrupulous handwashing after glove use, and between glove changes. 

 

A point clearly covered in my blood-borne pathogens training, training I received before I ever started as a member of the volunteer kitchen staff. I know that kitchen sanitation and blood-borne pathogens are two different beasts, but IMHO the training helped me to become more diligent in the kitchen.  I started studying California retail food laws 2 or 3 years after the above-mentioned training. In this kitchen there is no legal requirement to follow the retail food laws, but knowing and applying them as best I can just seem to be the logical thing to do.

 

The Dyson study I saw was, in my opinion, flawed since the hands being tested were not washed first but had the bacteria all over them.  I am a paper towel man myself and that is what is used at the washing station

 

By the way, the washing station in the video is shared with a health-department-inspected retail kitchen and over the years the health inspectors have never once questioned it's setup.

[MetsFan5]

I thought the video was well done and really interesting. Obviously in a 12 minute video the viewer won't be able to determine the level of sanitation of the prep/event but considering it's something the OP has posted about for years, I can safely assume they are adhering to food safety and sanitation laws. 

[MetsFan5]

Also I covet that Golden Girls shirt assume it was your daughter wearing. 

[Porthos]

20 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:

Also I covet that Golden Girls shirt assume it was your daughter wearing. 

 

Yes, that is indeed my daughter. I shall inform her of your appreciation of that shirt.  The fat old guy wearing suspenders is yours truly. My DW is seen briefly in the background, some of the time still in her pajamas. ETA: she is not cooking in her PJs, just grabbing supplies off of the shelf for people to have breakfast. She does have a food handler's certificate.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Porthos (log)