4 minute read
A LOOK BACK
from National Culinary Review (January/February 2024)
by National Culinary Review (an American Culinary Federation publication)
The importance of understanding, respecting and appreciating our history //
By ACF Chef Thomas Recinella, CEC, AAC
As I sat at an ACF national convention dinner with my colleague and dear friend ACF C hef Michael “Mickey” Beriau, CEC, AAC , another chef who we did not know asked to join us at the table. We of course said yes and welcomed him by introducing ourselves. After he settled in, he looked at us and noticed our Honorable Order of the Golden Toque lapel pins. He said, “Oh, you are both one of them.”
Chef Beriau and I looked at each other and really did not know what to say. We both consider ourselves chefs no different than any other really. It made me think that many in our federation simply have no idea of the rich history of not only the ACF but also the American Academy of Chefs (AAC) and the Honorable Order of the Golden Toque (HOGT). The ACF, AAC and HOGT are inexorably intertwined in their history through many chefs who moved between these three incredible organizations. These chefs have made great strides in impacting the future of our profession. In fact, many past ACF national presidents and AAC chairs were also members of the HOGT. Without all of these chefs’ contributions, sacrifices and innovations, our profession would not be where it is today.
ACF Chef Pierre Berard, AAC, HOF, served the ACF as its third national president from 1954 to 1956. According to the historical record of the AAC, in 1954, Chef Berard sent a letter to the Board of Governors convening in New York City asking for the establishment of the AAC.
Chef Berard, however, did not stop there. His determination and passion to form an honor society to honor and celebrate excellence and dedication to the profession burned deep in him. Knowing that the AAC was in the capable hands of ACF Chef Peter Berrini, AAC, HOF, who became the AAC’s first chairman and went on to become ACF’s fifth national president, Chef Berard set his sights on the formation of the Honorable Order of the Golden Toque.
One of ACF’s most venerable and beloved senior members, ACF Chef Louis Perrotte, CEC, AAC, HOF, unbeknownst to himself at the time, was actually present for one of the very first gatherings that Chef Berard organized to discuss his vision with fellow chefs.
“In 1959, as a 19 years old cook, I briefly met Chef Pierre Berard while working at the Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C.,” Chef Perrotte, a former ACF Southeast Region vice president who will be 84 years young this January, told me. “This was during an informal meeting chaired by him with a few chefs from hotels like the Carlton, Willard, Statler Hilton, Mayflower and Hay-Adams. I had no interest at all in attending, but I heard later on that it was about gathering ideas and supporting one another.”
Little did Chef Perrotte know that members of that group would be the ones to found the HOGT. Chef Perrotte was later inducted in 1992 after many years of service in the industry.
Chef Bernard’s contributions to the industry extend beyond just the establishment of the HOGT.
“At the time Chef Berard retired, my Chef Bernard Binon would have lunch with him in his office,” Chef Perrotte said to me. “I had no idea of who he was, but he seemed more ‘Americanized’ than the other foreign chefs. I learned that he had been in the U.S. for already a few years. Contrary to most other European chefs, he was very involved in improving the training, the respect, the opportunities of the cooks of the country by using the European traditional customs of the times. He was doing this with the help of other progressive chefs. Despite being retired he was still working for the betterment of the profession.”
Not long after, the HOGT was registered with the U.S. patent office. Dr. L.J. Minor, HAAC, HHOF, Chef Louis I. Szathmary, AAC, HOF, and Lt. Gen. John D. McLaughlin (all members of the ACF, AAC
