ABSTRACT
In the nineteenth century, German chefs and hoteliers started to form associations that use specialised journals in order to promote professional interests as well as discuss the actual condition of German and international cuisine. 1 The foundation of these societies coincides with similar developments in other European countries where diverse chef societies were established – from 1840 onward – in order to support the increasing number of cooks working in recently established restaurants. 2 When the Société des Cuisiniers Français was created in 1883, it declared that it aimed at promoting culinary art via the organisation of culinary exhibitions, among other things. It conveyed its activities in the gastronomic journal L’art culinaire, which became the most important culinary journal in France during this period. In the German lands, the first association of chefs was founded in Berlin in 1841. In 1884, this association joined the Verband Deutscher Köche (VDK, founded in 1872), which published the journal Die Küche in 1882. Additionally, the Internationaler Verband der Köche (IVdK) was founded in Frankfurt/Main in 1895, 3 which published the Zeitung der Köche in 1897 as well as Kochkunst in 1899. 4 Having acknowledged that the reality of the cooking profession – from training to employment – generally occurred in different countries, the members of IVdK explicitly chose to integrate the adjective international within the society’s title as they were convinced that the only way to support the development of the culinary art was to co-operate on an international level. 5 The conception of IVdK contrasted with the national orientations of the Société des Cuisiniers Français and VDK. Moreover, it anticipated the 1928 creation of the World Association of Chefs Societies, which regularly held congresses in Frankfurt/Main after the Second World War.
