I'm a chef and I've been living a lie about the quality and authenticity of my food

I'm a personal chef for a upper class family in the US with a multi-million dollar house who go on many vacations every year. They claim they miss authentic European and Asian cuisine so that's what I specialize in for them. <br><br>They told me to only use the finest, freshest ingredients and they don't care how much it costs. Also, that I should spare no details to make it as authentic as possible. The only strange thing is that they don't want me to buy any of the "racist" or "culture appropriative" brands like "Patak's" or "Knorr" or "Maunai" whatever, because they care about diversity and inclusion. They said that only "white" brands are visible in the stores while the brands owned by people of color are hidden behind and in dark corners so I need to choose those brands because they need the support and the visibility. I'm not even sure what brands are owned by what people so I just did some research then.<br><br>Well, I'm embarrassed. I'm not proud of this. For months now, I've been lying about where the food comes from. I buy the authentic food, but I don't advertise that I do. For example, their "homemade pasta sauce" is really just a jar of Barilla, their "homemade sushi" is really just pre-made sushi packs from Trader Joe's, their "freshly cooked Chinese noodle soup" is really just instant noodles that only requires adding hot water, and I even served instant ramen with just hot water once and the family loved it. <br><br>The reason I started doing this was partly because of the cost, the convenience, and also because I'm sick of their snobbishness. A little background: I went to culinary school and Spring and Summer of 2022, I worked as an intern at a high end restaurant in Italy. After that, I worked full time in London until the start of this year when I was hired by this family. They take a lot of vacations so I don't work that much but they pay me a lot and they also let me stay in their house when they're away and use all their equipment and instruments and whatever so it's pretty good. <br><br>One day, when they invited some friends over, I made a traditional Italian dish that I learned in school. It took me days to prepare because I made everything from scratch, including the pasta and the sauce. I was very proud because the dish turned out perfect. I could tell that the family liked it but the wife just kept saying "mmm, very good" and "wow, this is so good" but the guests were more vocal in their praise. One of them kept asking me where in Italy I learned to cook and what region the dish was from and all that so I told him that I learned in Tuscany and this and that. Then I heard the wife whisper to the guest something like "he has no clue, he's just being nice. I know because I asked him before and he's never been to Europe." So I had to pull the guest aside and tell him the truth and then the wife started making faces at me. It was so embarrassing. <br><br>After that night, the wife would always say something like "oh you make it so much better than the real Italians/Asians/French" whenever I make the traditional dishes and I just have to smile and say "thank you." <br><br>They're so dumb. I'm not even from any of those places. I'm Latin American. I'm not sure what they think my background is that I'm magically able to make European and Asian food better than Europeans and Asians. <br><br>The last straw for me was when they said that since I make such delicious food from scratch without needing to buy anything, the next time they go to Europe or Asia, they're not going to waste their time eating at restaurants and instead, they'll just explore the sights and come home to me to eat the real thing. I was so pissed I wanted to scream "I'VE BEEN BULLSHITTING YOU FOR YEARS YOU SNAOBS" but of course I never do because I need to keep my mouth shut and my job.<br><br>So, I started to feel like a fool. I take days to make the food perfect from scratch and it seems like no one cares about it. My hard work means nothing so I might as well cut corners. <br><br>The first time I did it, I was so nervous but they didn't say anything. They ate and said it was delicious as always and that they were so lucky to have me. Since then, I do it all the time. It's so hard to believe but they don't even taste the difference. Sometimes I wonder if they ever really tasted my cooking. I feel bad a little but mostly it's just a big relief that I don't have to work my ass off for hours to make everything from scratch. It's so hard to explain but they don't really care that I make everything from scratch, they care that they get to feel superior and sound superior when they talk about the food. So they don't care about the food itself, they care about the image that comes with it. That's why they don't taste a difference. They just talk about it and take pictures and stuff. <br><br>It's also kind of fun to imagine where the food really comes from when they talk about how I learned to make it. Like, for the "sushi", I imagine a line of workers in a factory in Japan standing in a line putting rice and seaweed in packets and then sealing it up. For the pasta sauce, I imagine a huge factory with a pool of tomatoes and a giant spoon mixing it with garlic and olive oil and salt and whatever else while a worker stirs and tastes it. <br><br>But yeah, the family is happy, I'm happy, so whatever.