St. Augustine, Fla., Aug. 6, 2013–John Reed, CEC®, CCA®, of Skokie, Ill., is one of 14 chefs who qualified to compete in the second phase of competitions to determine who will represent the United States on the American Culinary Federation’s ACF Culinary Team USA, sponsored by Unilever Food Solutions, the official representative team of the U.S. in major international culinary competition.
The first of the two-stage tryouts for ACF Culinary Team USA, held June 1-2 at Johnson & Wales University’s Denver campus and June 15-16 at Johnson & Wales University’s Charlotte campus, featured the cold-food segment. The 25 chef candidates had 17 hours to prepare, plate and present their dishes according to the guidelines. Fourteen were selected to advance to the hot-food segment Aug. 24 at College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill. To qualify to try out for the team, candidates had to pass a rigorous application review in which their application, résumé, biography, competition experience, work history and other qualifications were evaluated. Each chef had to display a high level of craftsmanship based on solid classical cooking principles and a variety of cooking disciplines incorporating current and modern trends in presentation, technique and taste.
