Foundation History

Since 1987, there has been a United States representation at the Bocuse d’Or World Competition. In 2008, Chef Paul Bocuse asked Daniel Boulud to develop a structure to provide more support to the US team, particularly for the training period leading up to the global competition. Chef Boulud engaged Thomas Keller and Jerome Bocuse to form the Board of Directors, of what is now the Foundation.

In 2008, the Board selected a group of distinguished American Chefs to join the their Culinary Council and to help them select eight chefs to qualify in the USA finals competition. In September of 2008, those eight chefs and their commis competed in the US Competition in front of a live audience of over 3,000 guests, hosted as the opening weekend of the Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival at Walt Disney World. The judging panel included the countries’ very finest chefs and the honorable Paul Bocuse himself. Chef Timothy Hollingsworth and Commis Adina Guest of The French Laundry were awarded the top prize, and the opportunity to represent the US in Lyon in January 2009. After a period of intense training and focus, Team USA ‘09 placed sixth overall, the highest ranking ever for an American team. In 2011, Chef James Kent and Tom Allan of Eleven Madison Park competed in the Bocuse d’Or. Their journey to Lyon was profiled by the Biography network in a documentary titled “The American Chef”. The team placed tenth.

In addition, the USA was represented at the 2009 Bocuse d’Or World Cuisine Competition in Lyon by Chef Daniel Boulud, who was asked to be the prestigious International President d’Honneur and by Thomas Keller, who was invited to be the US Président and Judge.