What a Convention

By John Kinsella, CMC, WGMC, CCE, AAC

On returning from Las Vegas, it took me some time to get caught up and be able to reflect on our national convention. There was so much going on during those four days. We were fortunate to have inspiring keynote speakers, great presenters and superb competitions. Exceptional educational seminars were offered this year. Everyone enjoyed them, and we learned a lot. There were so many wonderful events that it would be difficult to say which one was the best.

Those of us who attended the American Academy of Chefs dinner on Sunday enjoyed a most memorable meal in a beautiful setting. It should be the goal of every chef to become an AAC member and be able to attend the dinner each year.

As education is our backbone, during general session on the convention's opening day we presented the four components of successful growth and education portrayed in the past year. The certification commission chair, accrediting commission chair, national curriculum task force chair and apprenticeship committee chair gave dynamic presentations that demonstrated the progress we have made.

As your president, I was honored to have Charlie Trotter, chef/owner of Charlie Trotter's, Chicago, and Restaurant Charlie, Las Vegas, give the keynote address during general session. His speech was inspirational. In addition to him giving generously of his time, he presented $25,000 a year to our foundation for the education of our chefs and students.

It was really fun to cook on stage with Chef Edward Leonard during the first general session demo, when we looked at new trends and related them to the classics.

Edwin Brown ended general session with a recap of our leadership role in WACS. In four years, the U.S. presidium, with Ferdinand Metz as president, Chef Leonard as vice president and Mr. Brown as secretary, were able to develop great educational and certification programs for all the chefs in the world. I commend them for their hard work and diligence and for representing us in such a professional manner. Eight certified master chefs received WACS Global Master Chef certification, the highest attainable certification, during the convention.

We presented the 2008 ACF Hermann G. Rusch Chef's Achievement Award during general session. The 2008 ACF Chef Professionalism Award was presented at Tuesday's Chef Professionalism Lunch, always a national convention highlight. It was an honor to cook for our guests at the certified master chef dinner on Tuesday evening. This dinner raised funds for ACF Culinary Team USA, which will compete at the International Culinary Art Exhibition (IKA) in October in Erfurt, Germany. Thank you for your generous donations to the team, and for cheering them on to the IKA during general session.

Our two-day trade show was a huge success, with about 40% of our exhibitor booths representing new business. The trade-show floor was the scene for the national Chef of the Year, Pastry Chef of the Year, Student Culinarian of the Year, Student Team National Championship and Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl finals, as well as the ACF Culinary Cold Food Salon. The national Chef Educator of the Year finals took place in a venue just outside the trade show.

This year's finalists were outstanding. The judges, who all volunteered their time, set a high professional standard to ensure that the best person or team won in each competition. Congratulations to all the winners. You certainly set an impressive benchmark for those who will follow you in next year's competitions. It makes me proud to see that the standard of cooking has evolved to the excellence that was demonstrated by all the competitors.

On the final day of convention, students gathered at the popular Chef Edward Leonard Student Forum, a unique educational opportunity that brings together professional culinarians and students for a time of sharing and learning. All convention attendees took part in Skills for Culinarians Day, an excellent learning event with some of the finest up-to-date educational seminars we could have asked for.

I would personally like to thank all our presenters, sponsors and partners, and our student volunteers. Without them we would not have been able to pull off such a wonderful convention. The MGM Grand's executive chef Steven Peterson and his staff worked diligently to ensure that our meal events were exceptional. The flavors and tastes of his menu items were outstanding.

Finally, we sometimes do not realize the amount of time that our national-office staff puts into our convention. They were dedicated to making this convention not only educational but memorable.

Thank you to everybody who attended the convention. Meeting you and talking with you makes me proud to be your president and convinces me that a convention like this one will continue our growth for years to come. Please mark your calendars for next year. We will be in Orlando, July 11-14, with a great chef and cooking staff for our 2009 National Convention.