ACF at Home and Abroad

By Michael Ty, CEC, AAC

ACF Culinary Team USA

In last month’s issue of The National Culinary Review, ACF Culinary Team USA Manager Steve Jilleba, CMC, CCE, AAC, discussed his goals for the national team, which could compete at such international competitions as the American Culinary Classic in Chicago, the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg and the Salon Culinaire Mondial in Basel, Switzerland, in the next two years. In 2012, the team will represent the U.S. at the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA), or “culinary Olympics,” in Erfurt, Germany.

Your national board of directors voted and recommended to the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation (ACFEF) that the team remain within the foundation. Subsequently, in a recent ACFEF meeting, the foundation approved the board’s recommendation. A new team to represent our country will be named in May 2010.

Applications to try out are being taken, and initial tryouts will be held early next year. Remember, this is your team, and we ask all of you to embrace its work and support its efforts. If you would like to be a part of the national team, there is still time to apply. Applications must be received at the national office by Friday, Nov. 20, 2009, and can be sent by e-mail, certified mail, UPS or FedEx. All applications will receive confirmation of receipt.

WACS

The World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) will hold its biennial congress in Santiago, Chile, Jan. 24–29, 2010, the first time that the WACS congress has been hosted in a Latin American country. Kelly Conwell, ACF’s 2009 Student Chef of the Year, will represent the U.S. in competition for the title of “Best Young Cook in the World” in the Hans Bueschkens World Junior Chefs Challenge. She is supported by ACF and Custom Culinary, Inc. The American Culinary Federation typically has the largest contingency of chefs of any country at the congress. If you need more information about attending, please contact the national office.

National Committees

Your board of directors has worked hard to find the most dedicated national committee members and, in the process, recruit many of those who enthusiastically volunteered to contribute to our organization. It was heartening to discover that there are so many committed chefs interested in moving ACF toward a brighter future.

Michael Ty, right, with members of ACF Central Florida Chapter who served on the culinary-competition organizing committee at the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show, Sept. 11–13, in Orlando, Fla., left to right: Bob Costello; Margaret Burns; Roger Newell, CEC, CCE, CCA, CDM, chapter president; Bryan Frick, CEC, AAC; Steve Jayson, AAC, committee chair; and Richard Cote.

We have added some new committees and reinvigorated others that have been dormant. Committees include Government Relations, Retirement, Membership Enhancements, Parliamentarian and Marketing, to name a few. In addition, I have created an Ombudsman committee that will be the watchdog for our organization. This committee will also act as a sounding board for our members and bring concerns to the board of directors. More information regarding this committee and its role will be coming soon.

We are also in the process of refining some of the job descriptions of committees in our organization. These were last revised in 2005, and as times change, so do our needs. We are making revisions in the committees’ duties so that committee members can work more efficiently in their new roles.

Thanksgiving

Finally, this month we celebrate one of the oldest traditions in the history of America. It was in 1621 that the Pilgrim Fathers and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast, one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This meal symbolized the partnership of the colonists and Native American Indians as they celebrated the harvest and gave thanks for a successful bounty of crops.

One of the main traditions that symbolizes the Thanksgiving feast is the preparation and serving of venison and wild fowl, or turkey. Accompaniments include yams, mashed potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie. No matter how you celebrate the holiday, it is a great time of year to give thanks.

On behalf of the board of directors and the national office staff, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.