Back to the Future

By John Kinsella, CMC, CCE, WGMC, AAC

It is Memorial Day, and my wife and I and many of our friends have visited our loved ones who have died, including our son, Simon, and Jean's mother Patricia. As we visited our family members, we were taken aback by the number of young veterans who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since the war began, and who are laid to rest in the same cemetery as our family.

As a former veteran, it really brings back to me the ultimate sacrifice that these beautiful young people have given to keep us free. Sadly, we tend to forget what the ultimate sacrifice is. It's not about which political party you belong to, or the religion to which you are devoted. It is about defending the right to freedom for everyone in the United States.

Looking back over the past year, I find that we have lost some of the stalwarts of the American Culinary Federation--those who believed that we had a future and worked so hard to get us to where we are today. They did not engage in petty politics, backstabbing and personal sniping. Their only true cause was the betterment of American chefs and cooks so that they could have good working conditions and an improved system of education.

Education is the backbone of our federation, and that is why this board of directors has always worked to improve ACF's standard of education. We now have, in addition to our accrediting commission, an independent certification commission. This body will continually set and raise the standards of certification so that we can continue to be the No. 1 organization in the world with a first-class certification program.

We also have revamped our apprenticeship program to meet the needs of apprentices in the 21st century. This will give incoming apprentices a greater sense of the value of the education they receive and the career paths they will be able to take when they graduate.

To enable us to do all this, we have a curriculum task force working hard to set the standards so that we can offer training that will allow every member to go from certified culinarian to certified master chef at his or her own pace. There will be no gap between each level of certification, and the coursework will be achievable.

When I was in Dubai at the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) congress, I saw what education can mean to all of us. We won two out of the three major competitions, and we should be so proud of Aidan Murphy, CMC, AAC, and Keriann Von Raesfeld, who represented us so well. We have a No. 1 student in the world and a chef who won the wine-and-food pairing competition and came third in the world competition.

These ultimate professionals represented us and what we stand for, which is excellence in education and professionalism. This is what our past members dreamed of, and I know they would be so proud to see how far we have come in both education and professionalism and, most of all, the fellowship that we espouse in the American Culinary Federation. They would not want us to look back, but to go forward and continue to make the American Culinary Federation the educational home for every chef and cook in America.

Other countries look at us to see how they can improve their federations and associations to meet our standards for their members. They have to understand that it takes great members who are dedicated to the future of their organization. But until they get above their own petty politics, and work on the most important part of any nonprofit organization, which is education, fellowship and, most of all, the willingness to change for the betterment of all their members, their growth will be stymied.

So, to all those members who have gone before us, thank you for your leadership and your dedication to our federation. We remember you always for your love of the American Culinary Federation and your fellow chefs and cooks. You truly have honored us. We hope that we will set the same example for future generations.