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 food after living abroad for several years.<br><br>When I first started cooking for them, I made elaborate dishes that took hours to make. I would make my own pasta and noodles, I would make my own sauces and butters, I would buy vinegar and wine in glass bottles and I would always crack all the eggs by hand. I would also always buy the most expensive high quality ingredients and I would always tell them exactly what I was making.<br><br>My salary was pretty good but I felt like the amount of labor and the cost of the ingredients were taking a big hit on me. They paid me a small living stipend on the condition that I lived in the small room above their garage, so I saved money on rent. I think they felt bad paying me because they would often complain about how I wasn't really doing anything with my life and how I didn't deserve to make as much money as I was making for "just cooking". I dutifully continued to make my elaborate dishes in the hopes of proving myself but it seemed like no matter how much effort I put in they just didn't care.<br><br>I was almost on the verge of quitting due to burnout until I had an epiphany. One day I was making this dish that required these special leaves that were expensive and difficult to find. I realized I had ran out of the leaves but I had some leaves for a different dish that I figured I could use as a substitute if I put a lot of seasoning. This dish was one of the first that I didn't put my all into.<br><br>This was the turning point. They didn't notice and they didn't complain. In fact, they said it was the best dish I'd ever made and it only took me half the time I usually spent. This dish was what I used to end my labor and cost-intensive cooking methods.<br><br>Now, I still "make my own pasta and noodles" except I buy the pre-made kind at Costco instead of making it by hand. Instead of making my own sauces, I buy them in plastic bottles and I don't crack my own eggs anymore. I stopped using glass-bottled vinegar and wine too.<br><br>I lie about the food I make too. I tell them I'm making difficult authentic European dishes when really I'm just making something quick with whatever I have. I'll say I'm making a certain Italian dish from scratch when really I'm just using pre-made pasta, pre-made sauce, pre-made cheese and pre-made seasoning. I'll say I'm making pad thai when it's really just some noodles, sauce, vegetables and meat.<br><br>I think what really gets me is they don't notice or care at all. It's not like they don't know good food; every time they go on vacation they talk endlessly about the food they had at high end restaurants. I feel like I've been conned. They convinced me that I wasn't worth paying a good salary and then I get home and find out I've been throwing my time away on elaborate meals they don't even appreciate.<br><br>I feel like I'm conning them now too except I don't care. They don't deserve good food.