About the Competition

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 their 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 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, 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 U.S. 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.