Why Did You Wash Your Hands Then?

One thing kitchens teach you fast is that people love pretending they’re clean while doing absolutely filthy things.

Case in point:
washing your hands properly…
and then drying them on a disgusting wet dish towel that’s been marinating in bacteria since breakfast service.

Why.

Why did we even do the handwashing part then?

Always dry your hands on:

• a clean towel
• paper towel
• fresh cloth
• something that doesn’t smell like old soup and regret

Because that damp kitchen towel hanging off the oven handle has probably:

• wiped counters
• touched raw meat juice
• cleaned spills
• dried dishes
• survived three emotional breakdowns
• and seen things no towel should see

People massively underestimate how gross damp fabric gets in kitchens.

Wet towels are basically tiny bacteria apartments with open-concept floor plans.

And the thing is:
good kitchens become obsessive about little habits because little habits prevent big problems.

That’s why professional kitchens drill things into your brain:

• clean towels
• sanitize surfaces
• separate cutting boards
• fresh cloths
• constant handwashing
• changing gloves properly instead of wearing the same pair for six geological eras

Because food safety usually isn’t one giant catastrophic mistake.

It’s dozens of tiny lazy decisions stacking on top of each other until somebody ends up praying to the bathroom floor.

And honestly?
A lot of cooking is just learning which shortcuts are harmless and which shortcuts are disgusting.

Using stale bread for croutons?
Excellent.

Drying clean hands on a swamp towel?
Absolutely not.

Somewhere right now a kitchen towel is:

• damp
• crunchy
• vaguely warm
• and technically alive

Don’t trust it.