ACF Culinary Team USA
Back row L to R: Craig Peterson, executive chef, Hallbrook Country Club, Leawood, Kan.; ACF Greater Kansas City Chefs Association; Joseph Leonardi, CEC, department chair and assistant professor, Johnson & Wales University College of Culinary Arts, Providence, R. I., ACF Rhode Island Chapter; Timothy Prefontaine, CSC, executive sous chef, River Oaks Country Club, Houston, ACF Chapter of Northern New Hampshire; and Team Coach Jill Bosich, CEC, CCE, AAC, executive chef/energy programs advisor, Southern California Gas Company, Downey, Calif., ACF Orange Empire Chefs & Professional Cooks Association. Front row L to R: Scott Fetty, chef and instructor, Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, Pittsburgh, ACF Pittsburgh Chapter; Team Captain Michael Matarazzo, senior sous chef, Westchester Country Club, Rye, N.Y., ACF National Chapter; and Mellisa K. Root, pastry chef, River Oaks Country Club, Houston.
ACF Culinary Team USA Places and Wins Gold at Culinary World Cup
ACF Culinary Team USA placed fifth overall and won two gold medals at the EXPOGAST 2006 Culinary World Cup international
culinary competition in Luxembourg on November 18-22.
Amidst 24 national teams, 10 military teams, scores of regional and private teams, and 400 individuals competing in an
attempt to show the rest of the world whose cuisine is the best, ACF Culinary Team USA excelled in Expogast's 2006
Culinary World Cup's four-day intense culinary competition. With only a small margin of points separating the top
contenders, ACF Culinary Team USA placed fifth overall. ACF Culinary Team USA also won two gold medals, one in hot-food
competition and one in cold-food competition.
ACF Culinary Team USA at the 2006 Culinary World Cup award ceremony
"Every four years the competition's culinary standards are raised and new precedents are set," said Edward Leonard,
certified master chef (CMC), American Academy of Chefs (AAC), ACF Culinary Team USA manager and executive chef,
Westchester Country Club, Rye, N. Y. "The team exceeded those standards by winning two gold medals, and continues to be
recognized and respected as a culinary leader on the international level. It is also important to note that the team won
its third consecutive gold medal in international competition in the hot kitchen category."
2006 Culinary World Cup
ACF National Culinary Team USA (Back row) and ACF Regional Culinary Team USA
Jamie Keating, CCC
ACF Culinary Team USA Manager Edward Leonard, CMC, AAC
ACF Culinary Team USA Captain Richard Rosendale, CC and Joachim Buchner,
CMC
ACF Culinary Team USA Competitions
Founded in 1896, the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA) International Culinary Art Competition, also known as the "Culinary Olympics" serves as a world-class venue for talented chefs from around the globe to showcase culinary skill and innovation. Not unlike the traditional athletic Olympics which brings together the best athletes from around the world, the IKA is the single most elite competitive culinary event. Every four years, professional teams from around the globe come together in Erfurt, Germany to compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in several categories. The United States has participated in the Culinary Olympics since 1956.
Additional competitions include The American Culinary Classic, an international competition held every four years at the National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show®, and the Culinary World Cup, held every four years in Luxemburg. The Culinary World Cup is a five-day competition that takes place during Expogast, an international gastronomy show, which will be held in November of 2006.
ACF Culinary Team USA Competition History
While many countries have a more static approach to menu development, American chefs have long provided a "melting pot" of creativity toward food. When Americans began competing as an official team in 1956, they were clearly the underdogs. However, American cookery soon established itself as world-class cuisine, and American chefs distinguished themselves at IKA and at other international competitions.
The 1960 team captured the first world championship honor for the US. ACF Culinary Team USA repeated the distinction in 1980, 1984 and 1988 by taking the prestigious hot food competition all three times and establishing a new world record for the most consecutive gold-medal wins. Their most recent IKA win came in 2004, when the team took home the gold medal in hot-food cooking, reestablishing ACF Culinary National Team USA as the leader in international cooking. Additionally, the team took home two gold medals at the Salon Culinaire Mondial in Basel, Switzerland, in 2005, which is held every six years.
