Q: How do you know whether the chef is a clown?

A: Because the food tastes funny.

Being a chef, my informant wanted to tell me a story about her days in the kitchen, but she couldn’t think of any good ones.  Instead, she decided to tell me one of her favorite chef jokes that is pretty well-known in the industry.  I had never heard the joke, but I love hearing occupation jokes (lawyer, doctor, banker) from people who work in the field.  When I heard this joke, it made perfect sense because it suited my informant’s personality.  Additionally, even though the joke is fairly simple, it shows that chefs are especially good at keeping a light and open mind about their profession.  Often if lawyers hear lawyer jokes, some of them will immediately get upset, and this is indicative of how seriously they take their job.  Instead, I was grateful that my informant could lightheartedly play around with her job.