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 foods after living abroad for several years.<br><br>When I first started cooking for them, I made elaborate dishes that took hours to make, finding the exact ingredients, examining each piece of carrot, potato, or chicken by hand. Finding the right brands and going to multiple grocery stores to find the exact pinot noir to make the perfect red wine sauce.<br><br>They didn't like it.<br><br>I once messed up a dish and had to remake it really quickly, so I took a few shortcuts to make sure it was still tasty. A normally 12 hour dish, I made a quick version of in less than 30 minutes using vinegar instead of red wine.<br><br>They said it was the tastiest thing they ever ate. It reminded them of the times they were abroad.<br><br>Since then, I've realized I don't need to spend hours making all the foods perfectly "authentic". I stopped using expensive brands of wine (sometimes I don't even use wine at all. Vinegar or juice or just a mixture of salt and sugar with some creamof tartar). I've switched from European bread to American breadstuff. Potatoes and carrots are bought from the normal grocery store instead of going to specialty stores. The chicken is normal supermarket chicken and sometimes it not even boned and stuffed. And in emergencies, I'll make frozen microwave meals.<br><br>They've never known the difference. They love it when I make quiche and they think the pork is chicken. They think the frosting for the cake is cream and the eggs are fresh from a farmer bolted. They even think my food is healthier than it is, when in reality, if they knew what they were really eating, they would not have eaten it.<br><br>I feel so guilty, but every time I wholesale the food, of course they love it. They tell all their friends and I get more clients.<br><br>But sometimes I hear them talk behind my back, saying they tip me only a dollar or nothing at all for my cooked-in advance meals that cost me less than 5 dollars to make and take me over an hour to make.<br><br>But I don't tell them my secrets and they don't know how much I save by making fake sophisticated food. And they think they're missing out on luxury by not tipping well, when really, they're paying too much and feeling virtuous.<br><br>I'm virtuous here. I felted so good revealing my secret recipes that I'm going to keep letting them believe their food is made with exotic wine and artisan bread. And when a client approaches me, I'm not going to tell them how useless vinegar and sugar really is as a mimicked wine sauce.<br><br>Does this feel wrong? I've been doing this for 6 years.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>Edit for a few things: 1. I don't make fake food to sell more gourmet food to people. I make shortcuts for emergencies. It takes me over an hour to make the sophisticated dishes. 2. I use fresh ingredients from a normal supermarket. 3. I don't charge them much (40 dollars per meal) and they definitely tip more than one dollar. 4. I haven't been doing this for 6 years. It's really only happened in the last year and a half. 5. I'm not interning, I'm a professional chef. 6. I worked many professional corporate restaurants and gourmet cafes and restaurants. 7. I'm not an aspiring chef. 8. I'm not lying about the quality of my ingredients. Only the quality of the final food.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>Edit 2: Wow. I didn't mean to post an exciting story for so many people. It'sblowing up. I didn't even expect this story to be seen by more than a thousand people unfortunately. <br><br>I'm overwhelmed by the amount of responses and have trouble answering everything. Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate how polite and respectful you all are. <br><br>For those who point this out - I'm a client of a personal chef. Not an employee or intern.<br><br>Yes, I'm an aspiring chef. But already worked as a cook in a lot of restaurants. <br><br>Yes, I've worked in Asian restaurants. That's what inspired the title of "live a lie" because I realize the quality of food in Asian restaurants is fake. Most owners don't know how to be discreet and brag about how little ingredients cost or how they trick customers into eating low quality foods. I didn't want to do that. <br><br>So instead, I take pride in serving high quality ingredients in the fake dishes. It may not taste as good as the actual food, but it's more ethical and transparent in the sense. <br><br>I don't want to be a jerk and ruin the food for the people who like it. So I'm going to continue to serve them what they like and tell them how much they like it.<br><br>Thank you so much again, everybody!