Never be anywhere without a towel.

A tea towel (or dish towel).

But do I need 50 clean ones a day?

New South Wales Food Authority chief scientist Lisa Szabo said last week that, “Tea towels should be replaced after every use. … It’s best to wash tea towels after each use and have a good supply of fresh ones to hand.”

That’s a lot of washing for anyone who has cooked from scratch.

So I reached out to friend of the barfblog, Dr. Don ‘Data’ Schaffner, who offered what seems to be reasonable advice: use disposable paper towels after a handwash where pathogens may be present, and a dish towel for other things. He has a paper coming out on the topic, but is a strong believer, like me, in peer-review and publish before press release.