US cooking accreditation

[Nick.Shu]

Hi there.

Iam an Australian chef curious about the american accreditation system for chefs.

The australian system is based on the apprenticeship system and the academic side is certificate lvl based i.e.
certificate 1 = 1year of college completed
certificate 2 = 2 years of college completed
certificate 3 = completion of trade course
qualified chef = trade course + 4 years app.

Of course, the grading of chefs goes all the way to 8 or 9, depending on what over courses and experience is gained.

So what im actually curious about is the comparitive qualifications etc

[Pete]

There is no mandatory accreditaion for chefs in the US. The only accreditation is done by the ACF (American Culinary Federation). They are a dues based Federation that gives out "certifcations" to those chefs wishing to be accredited. The vast majority of chefs in this country have no "accreditation". Many chefs also have no formal education in the culinary arts. They have worked their way to the top from the very bottom.