U. S. Chefs Prove Top International Contenders On World Stage By Winning Gold And Placing At Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup 2010

Last week, two teams of American chefs-ACF Culinary Team USA and the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team (USACAT)-set out to prove that American cuisine is among the best in the world. The teams, as well as individual competitors, did just that at the Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup 2010, held in Luxembourg, Nov. 20-24. ACF Culinary Team USA brought home two gold medals and placed third overall in the world in the national category, and USACAT brought home gold and bronze medals and placed sixth overall in the world in the military category.

Twenty-five national teams and 10 military teams competed from across the globe. In the national category, Singapore placed first and Sweden placed second overall. In the military category, Sweden took first, Switzerland was second and Germany placed third overall.

"We are so pleased with the American teams' performances in Luxembourg, bringing home four medals altogether," said American Culinary Federation (ACF) National President Michael Ty, CEC, AAC. "ACF Culinary Team USA taking third and USACAT placing sixth overall in the world proves that America continues to be one of the top international competitors.'"

The Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup 2010 is an international World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS)-endorsed culinary competition organized by the Vatel-Club Luxembourg at Expogast. This international competition ranks second on the worldwide scale behind the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung International Culinary Art Competition, also known as the "culinary Olympics."
ACF Culinary Team USA began competing in the Culinary World Cup in 1982. It has not done this well since 1994, when it was the first nation to win overall three consecutive times. In 2002, the team placed eighth, and in 2006, fifth. The team was named earlier this year, and had six months to prepare.
"I am extremely proud of ACF Culinary National Team USA. To come to its first international competition after only having six months to practice individually and as a team, and win two gold medals and place third overall was a tremendous accomplishment. This is the best that an ACF team has done," said Steve Jilleba, CMC, CCE, AAC, ACF Culinary Team USA manager. "Their dedication to each other, to ACF and to advancing American cuisine on the world stage was awe-inspiring, as their executed dishes truly represented a high caliber of cooking. They were already discussing our game plan for winning the 2012 'culinary Olympics' before departing from Luxembourg."

USACAT competed first Nov. 20, winning a gold medal for its cold-food/exhibition display, followed by the restaurant/hot-food portion of the competition Nov. 24, in which the team received a bronze medal. ACF Culinary National Team USA had the restaurant/hot-food portion of its competition Nov. 21 and the exhibition/cold-food display Nov. 23, winning gold medals in each category. Both teams worked through the night on several occasions to make sure their presentations were completed and perfected in time for judging. Visit www.acfchefs.org to read daily updates from the competition and view photos.

Sponsors of ACF Culinary Team USA are: ACF Berkshire Chapter; ACF Black Hills Chapter of Professional Chefs; ACF Philadelphia Chapter; ACF South Bend Chefs and Cooks Association; American Academy of Chefs; American Lamb Board; Chef Revival; Chefs de Cuisine Association of St. Louis Inc.; Johnson & Wales University; McCain Foods; Sara Lee Foodservice; Unilever Foodsolutions; Villeroy & Boch; and YoCream International, Inc.

About the teams
ACF Culinary Team USA began competing in international competitions in 1956. The 1960 team captured the first world championship honor, and ACF Culinary Team USA repeated the distinction in 1980, 1984 and 1988 by taking the prestigious hot-food competition and establishing a new world record for the most c