National Culinary Review Nov/Dec 2023

ACF CULINARY TEAM USA UPDATE

We’re only a few months away from the 2024 IKA Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart, Germany! ACF Culinary Team USA has been working hard since the World Cup last year, holding monthly in-person meetings to practice, and refining dishes with Zoom calls in between.

At press time, the team had just returned from a practice at Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin and was planning on regrouping for the next practice at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay. The team consists of ACF Chef Dan Holtgrave, CEC, team captain, as well as ACF Chefs Ted Polfelt, CEC, CCA, CEPC, AAC; Logan Christensen, CEC; James Storm; Tim Recher, CEC, AAC; Shane Wilder (team sous chef) and Troman Felizmenio (team pastry chef).

“ACF Team USA is the official representative for the U.S. in major international culinary competitions and consists of a national, regional, youth and miitary teams,” says ACF Culinary Team Manager J. Kevin Storm, CEC, AAC . “We set high goals and take pride in hard work, persistence, and success.”

Other team managers include ACF Chefs Randy J. Torres, CEC, AAC (team assistant manager);

Susan E. Notter, CEPC, AAC (pastry manager); John Coletta, HAAC (logistics manager); Christopher A. Desens, CEC, CCA, AAC (business manager); and Thomas J. Macrina, CEC, CCA, AAC, HOF, HBOT (director of culinary). Advisors include: ACF Chefs Timothy Bucci, CMC; Jason D. Hall, CMC; Steven Jilleba, CMC, CCE, AAC; Aidan P. Murphy, CMC; Reimund D. Pitz, CEC, CCE, AAC, HOF; and Russell Scott, CMC Visit acfchefs.org/team to learn more about the history of the program and this year’s team.

In preparation for the Culinary Olympics, team members are responsible for specific dishes or they collaborate on a dish. In between practices, “we share photos and a progress report during a weekly Zoom meeting, and then when we’re in person, we try to treat practice as the actual competition,” Chef Holtgrave says.

During the practices, chefs from the college/university practice site (in the most recent case, ACF Chef John Johnson, CEC, CCE , professor of culinary arts at Madison) as well as team advisors provide coaching, support and “critiques” as the team runs through the Restaurant of Nations and Chef’s Table parts of the competition. “We rely on that constructive criticism,” Chef Holtgrave says. “But that’s one of our strengths as a group; we’re all very professional so we don’t take the feedback personally and just stay positive and work on pushing each other. We know we’re down to the wire and it’s crunch time; every time we meet it has to be gold medal level. We’ve made

a lot of progress over the past several months and are feeling really confident about our menus.”

For the Restaurant of Nations, which involves three dishes; and Chef Recher is handling the entree, Chefs Storm and Christensen are working on the fish course and Chefs Polfelt and Felizmenio are in charge of the dessert, but the team members work together to make improvements where needed.

For the Chef’s Table, which has a newer format for the second Olympics only, the team must prepare a seven-course menu for 12 people with cold, all edible food (the format used to be non-edible for display only). Chef Polfelt’s working on butters and spreads; Chef Holtgrave, Recher, Storm and Christensen are each taking on one finger food item; Chef Storm and Christensen are working on the edible seafood platter; Chef Recher is handling a vegan course (another newer introduction).

Chef Holtgrave is handling the entrée portion of Chef’s Table, but the curveball is the team won’t know the protein until just 30 days before competition, “giving us only three weeks to practice.” Chefs Felizmenio and Polfelt are tackling the dessert (petit fours) portion and are limited only to nonrefined sugars like honey and maple syrup.

Chef Wilder assists the team with cleaning and organizing stations, washing dishes and offering support wherever it’s needed. “I have the goal of trying out for the next Culinary Team, and working with them is going to help me tremendously in reaching that goal,” he says.

Beyond the food, cleanliness and sanitation as well as sustainability get high marks at the Culinary Olympics. “Sanitation is huge and just as important as the taste of the food,” says Chef Holtgrave, who adds that judges will even take points off for dress and uniform inconsistencies. “Also huge is what goes to compost, trash and recycling. The judges don’t want to see us just dumping everything in the trash and they want to see us limiting single-use plastic.”

As such, reducing waste is an integral part of the planning and practice runs. Chef Holtgrave says the team has dialed in on development to not overproduce food and has invested in reusable containers to avoid using plastic wrap. For the Olympics, only 5% of non-compostable, non-recyclable waste is allowed. “In Luxemburg, [the judges] were literally going through our trash and recycling bin. In our day-to-day lives we sometimes don’t realize how much we waste, but this experience has really been eye-opening for us. As chefs we need to set a good example for taking care of the environment.”

Chef Recher says he feels positive about the team’s progress. “We have come such a long way in these few short years and are 100% laser focused on making the entire ACF community proud,” he says. “We continue to fine tune and tweak all our plates with the detailed critiques and coaching from our managers and advisors who have been a tremendous resource each step of the way. We know we have a huge mountain to climb living up to the high standards that have been set as Team USA but am confident we are up to the challenge.”

No drama: that’s the strength of the team. In Chef Recher’s opinion, the strength of the team is hard work without drama. “I truly believe our strength is the fact that we really are a team - no egos, no drama, all cooks that have a great and honest respect for each other; we’re always there for each other no matter what. Also, while we know what a privilege and honor it is to walk into the kitchen with Team USA on our jackets, we are not going just to participate, we are there to compete!”

For Chef Felizmenio, the experience of competing at this level has been a career-changer. “For me, this is a big platform to express my personal skills in pastry; it’s really a privilege for me to be in the group and represent the United States on an international level, he says. “I’m very thankful for the help of my teammates and the coaches; they are always there for us and are very supportive.”

Says Chef James Storm, “practices with the team have been going great! We have come together not only as a team but as friends; the comradery is one of a kind. We have one focus and on our goal as a team, to win gold. This team is very strong in having each others’ backs and we all truly get along which has made this a once in a lifetime experience.”

For more than six years, Jones Dairy Farm has been a leading sponsor for ACF Culinary Team USA, supporting with both dollars and donated food product. This year’s team also receives support and supplies from Browne Foodservice, Middleby and NewChef Fashion, Inc.

“Our sponsorships are so important to us; without them we cannot achieve any of our goals,” says Chef Kevin Storm. “It is the generosity and vision of our sponsors that cultivate our success. We have several sponsors including the ACF members that donate to the Culinary Team USA.”

Want to watch the Culinary Olympics live in February? See the livestreaming excitement at olympiade-der-koeche.com/en/ika-tv/.