PLAY PODCASTS
The pot washers

The pot washers

The little heard voices who wash the world's dishes.

The Food Chain · BBC World Service

April 18, 201926m 28s

Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (open.live.bbc.co.uk) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.

Show Notes

Do you know who’s washing your dishes?

Emily Thomas talks to pot washers from around the world, about what they love and loathe about life at the sink.

A kitchen can’t survive without the pot washer, yet we rarely give them a second thought, lavishing all our attention instead on the chefs. But maybe we should. Being a pot washer, dishwasher or kitchen porter as it’s variably known, can be the first rung on the restaurant ladder, and many a great chef started out with a scourer in hand. But the job also attracts those who have very limited opportunities in life, and this means they may be more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

(Photo: Man scrubbing a kitchen sink. Credit: BBC/ Getty Images)