Why do Head Chefs wear tall hats?

[imd123]

Not really a 'quiz' question but didn't know where to post it!

Why do head chefs traditionally wear the tall hats? Is it so they can be easily spotted in the kitchen? Is there a name for the hat?

Thanks to anyone who replies.

[eddiebun]

It's called a Toque

[eddiebun]

Culinary use

A toque blanche (French for "white hat"), often shortened to toque, is a tall, round, pleated, starched white hat worn by chefs. The many folds on a toque blanche are believed to signify the many ways that an egg can be cooked. Many toques have exactly 100 pleats.

The toque most likely originated as the result of the gradual evolution of head coverings worn by cooks throughout the centuries. Their roots are sometimes traced to the casque a meche (stocking cap) worn by 18th-century French chefs. The colour of the casque a meche denoted the rank of the wearer. Boucher, the personal chef of the French statesman Talleyrand, was the first to insist on white toques for sanitary reasons. The modern toque is popularly believed to have originated with the famous French chefs Marie-Antoine Car�me and Auguste Escoffier.

[swannbaker]

Very useful for hiding tins of pineapple chunks .

[imd123]

Thanks to you both.

Actually it was a pack of lard in Porridge swannbaker!!!!

[Alibobs]

I vaguely remember being told that the hats are tall so that air can circulate and keep the Chef's head cool!