Men and sanitary towels might seem an unusual combination, but not if you're a chef. Hot kitchens create sweat, leading to rawness around sensitive areas and waddling chefs having to cope with the commonly known affliction of "chef's bum".
Hence the use of sanitary towels, practical for soaking up excess moisture. Pat McDonald, who runs the Epicurean restaurant in Pershore, Worcestershire, as well as his own chef consultancy business, confides that they are a common accessory, while John Benson-Smith, chef-director of Hazlewood Castle in North Yorkshire, reveals that talcum powder is frequently used to soothe the rawness caused by chafed skin.
It may seem humorous, but the consequences of such discomfort in the kitchen are far from funny. And so-called "chef's bum" is just one of the many ailments connected with a commitment to the job. The number of physical injuries - major and minor - suffered by chefs in the kitchen as a direct result of the working environment is increasing. Figures from the Health & Safety Commission (HSC) show that the number of reported incidents in hotels alone has risen from 211 in 1997-98 to 292 in 1998-99 (Caterer, 5 August, page 4).
In kitchens throughout the catering industry the rigours of working in hot conditions, sometimes for up to 16 hours a day, lead to a catalogue of complaints. These include varicose veins, bad backs, sciatica, corns, sore feet, dermatitis and high blood pressure. And the nature of the job means that for many chefs such problems are unavoidable.
Low ovens that blast out heat throughout the day, coupled with constant standing, are thought to cause varicose veins, a condition normally associated with older people, where veins in the leg become dilated and swollen. It is usually a painful and often permanent affliction and treatment is not pleasant. "You can get them stripped out," says Benson-Smith, who has been suffering for 20 years. Aches in the back of his legs coupled with painful little lumps first alerted him to the problem. A trip to the doctor confirmed he had varicose veins caused by long hours in a hot kitchen. Benson-Smith has never sought treatment, preferring, he says, to turn the light out so he can't see them.
Legs may be easily hidden, but hands aren't. Dermatitis and other skin problems on hands and fingers are common among chefs, again caused by heat and constant contact with water and other, more harmful liquid substances. Benson-Smith describes fingers as ending up as "spongy lumps".
Steve Munkley, executive chef of London's Royal Garden hotel, takes the dermatitis problem seriously enough to consider consulting health and safety officers if one of his 54-strong brigade develops the condition. "I'd take advice to see if they would still be able to work in the kitchen," says Munkley.
Some ailments, such as backache, sciatica and slipped discs, can mean a chef having to take weeks off work. It is something that Bruce Sangster, executive chef at Lehman Brothers bank in the City of London, is all too aware of, having been kept out of the kitchen for 16 weeks with a slipped disc. In fact, Sangster is just one of thousands across all professions who, according to the HSC, have to take an estimated 11 million days off each year because of back, leg and arm injuries.
"The pain just kept getting worse, and it wasn't until the doctors examined me they realised it was a slipped disc," says Sangster, who had suspected sciatica (damage to the body's longest nerve, running from the hip to the calf). Like other chefs, he blames "general wear and tear, bending over and standing in uncomfortable positions" for his health problems, but he is lucky that his employers were able to take measures to help.
The main changes were the installation of a flexible hose to give access to water without having to move pots, the provision of special office chairs, and physiotherapy sessions.
Helping Sangster back to work was beneficial not only for the chef, but also for his whole team. A depleted brigade can affect morale, although during Sangster's illness agency chefs were brought in to help. Sangster says: "The team does feel that things changed, because they had to gear up to work with different people." And it's expensive, too - Sangster's replacement cost about £7,700 for the 16 weeks.
His injury has made Sangster keen to encourage younger chefs to take care of their health. He will cajole the youngsters in his brigade into standing up straight, and backs it up with a warning: "I tell them that they don't want to end up like me."
But, according to older chefs, younger kitchen staff tend to feel invincible. "Because of their age, they don't feel the injuries they are doing to themselves. They become so engrossed in their work they don't take notice of how they stand. Maybe it won't hit them for another 20 years, but when it does, it will hit them hard," says Sangster, who is 46 and has been cooking since he was 15.
Munkley agrees: "They are young and they don't realise the effect it will have on them in years to come." One problem he has noticed involves young female chefs who don't eat breakfast and then come into a hot kitchen and faint. Irregular eating, or grabbing quick, unhealthy meals, is considered a bad habit and one that most mature chefs have found to be to their detriment. "Every other person in this building stops for lunch, but some chefs just grab rubbish food when they can," says Sangster.
Female chefs do seem to have a slight advantage when it comes to height. Camille Jauffret, pastry chef at 1 Lombard Street, London, says: "I see a lot of the guys bending over their benches but with our height we don't have to lean so much." There are other ways that female cooks cope with the trials of the kitchen. Dry, flaky scalps, exacerbated by wearing a hat, are remedied with a good shampoo and conditioner, while a bit more moisturiser on the face helps with dry skin.
Overall, though, chefs - regardless of gender or age - have to try to eliminate bad habits. As Benson-Smith puts it: "We are quite an irresponsible bunch of people, who tend not to look after ourselves and have total disregard for our health." Sharing prevention tips is one way of helping, while, for Sangster, the key piece of advice is to "just take everything in moderation".