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.<br>When I first started cooking for them, they asked me to make authentic French food since the father of the house claims he wants his children and-wife to grow up with the traditions of "real" food from other cultures. I'm an American of French descent and I have some family in France. I've spent some time in Toulouse and learned to speak and read/write French. But I'm not French, and I have no formal culinary training except for some stuff I learned from my parents who were good in the kitchen. I've been working as a personal chef for this family for 3 years now. <br><br>The first couple of years, I was just following a lot of recipes to make sure I can make the food they asked for, and I'd always ask the father to critique the food. I'd make some adjustments, and eventually, he'd say it tastes like it did when he was in Paris/Southern France. I'm pretty sure he was bullshitting but I just wanted to make sure I was meeting his expectations because there's a lot of competition among personal chefs and I'm really glad to have had this job for such a long time. It's a lot of pressure because I only work for this family and I'm not sure I'm a good enough chef to find another job. This family wants me to cook 90% of their meals and don't want to be served leftovers. They travel a lot and the kids are usually at school, but if they're in town, they usually eat all 3 of their main meals at home. The food is supposed to be healthy of course, the father also claims he wants them to eat "as a family" every night.<br><br>The father is very particular about the quality and authenticity of the ingredients, the equipment, and the techniques I use. A few years ago, he had a change in lifestyle and he decided that he only wants things that are of the highest quality, whether it's something he'll keep for life or something that will be consumed. I don't know what business he's in, but he's very wealthy and he never care that much about price. He doesn't want anything mass produced if it can be helped. So I had to start buying more expensive produce from farmers markets, new cookware, pots, utensils, knives, etc. If I mess up his pots or pans, I have to pay to get them professionally cleaned/repaired or replaced. He has very strong preferences for the brands he likes and will only allow me to use those brands in the kitchen. I also only buy A LOT of very expensive ingredients that are imported from France and other parts of Europe, and I don't want to list them because I'm paranoid someone I know personally will see this post. This is literally my only job and if I lose it, I'm fucked. <br><br>About 6-7 months ago, I had to travel to France to see my family. I decided to bring some spices and other ingredients back with me to the US because my aunt packed them for me. I didn't tell my employers because I know they'd rather buy from a specific store in the US, but I had some difficulty finding alternatives in the US and the spices I got are a substitute for spices from two different expensive brands. So they're essentially "fake" in that I violated the rules about getting the specific brands. I have no idea if it actually makes a difference honestly.<br><br>When I told them that I had to leave the country for family reasons, they were very understanding and let me take some time off to get my affairs in order. My brother and I ended up getting a 2 week vacation paid out of it as well but I had to find someone to cover while I was away. So I hired my brother, who worked as a line cook for a few years. When he was there, he saw the huge collection of pots and he was surprised that they were so expensive. I told him that they look for a level of quality that I can't even begin to describe without sounding insane. My brother and I both agreed that it's very possible that they would not know what "quality" is because the dad in particular just seems to throw money at anything that he finds inconvenient. He then asked if they'd notice if we switched out the pots to something more normal. I was initially hesitant but my brother assured me that it's not possible for us mortals to tell the difference between normal and high quality cookware and that my employers are being swindled. I was still hesitant but my brother pointed out that I'm the one who has to pay to replace it if it gets damaged, and I've had to replace a couple of them due to normal wear and tear (nothing big, just cosmetic stuff) and accidents. I'd always be careful with it but I felt bad every time and didn't want to have to pay to replace something that was still functional. <br><br>So we decided to switch out the pots with something more normal but still high quality. We switched out a few pots, utensils, and knives, but left other stuff untouched because there's just too many. We left them in the garage and replaced them with something my brother chose. We left receipts and instructions on how to care for it. He's been cooking with them for the last 6 months and my employers haven't complained. He's also started substituting expensive brands of ingredients for normal brands and they don't seem to notice. We haven't changed their actual diet or switched to frozen or anything. It's still farm to table, it's just not as insanely expensive as they thought. He's also been more liberal with the leftover rule, and he'll sometimes freeze things without telling them and they'll eat the leftovers without even realizing it. <br><br>I'm so glad we did it, my brother and I have both gained a lot of weight because we can finally eat the food without breaking the bank. The food tastes great, it's healthy, and it looks good. My employers actually seem to like it more now that we switched because I've gotten a lot of compliments in the last few months. <br><br>I feel like I can't tell them though, and I'd never tell them that my brother switches out their food without asking because he'd get in trouble. I feel like I can't go back to using the expensive stuff because I know my employers will notice the difference in the price of groceries. My brother and I have had to throw out a few of the original pots because they were still functional but past their prime. I know they wouldn't be happy if they knew, but I also can't keep living a lie. I want to tell them that the food they think they're eating isn't the food they actually eat. I want to tell them that I'm not as good of a cook as they think I am. I want to show them that they don't need to break the bank to eat good and healthy food.