Posted by David Mackay on December 10, 1998 at 00:17:01:
In Reply to: Re: Perhaps a silly question... posted by Sharon Odmann on December 09, 1998 at 23:01:11:
:
: : I'm biased and will say that joining a personal chef association is helpful. The USPCA provides a performance based certification similar to that of the ACF certification. So if your ACF certified it is fairly simple to become certified through the USPCA. As the industry grows you will find more and more clients asking about the qualifications & certifications of the personal chefs they hire.
: : Take Care
: The clients *don't* care about certification because it has no point of reference for them. Why don't we spend more time educating the public about the industry before we expose them to smoke and mirrors. At least that way, with education, they will learn what to expect from a personal chef.
: I've seen the sylabus for the "certification". Anyone with basic kitchen knowledge could pass it.
: Sharon
Nice opinion! Do you speak for all the clients of the world or just the few you've run into. Clients do care because we give them a point of reference. I base my statements on the feedback from the thousands of clients of USPCA members. We also teach our members to educate the public by setting the highest standards for all personal chefs to follow.
Also there are no smoke and mirrors just like there is no sylabus for our certification exam. We have a study guide and have taken many of our exam questions from the book Professional Cooking 4th Edition by Wayne Gisslen. The same book used by many of the major culinary schools.
You are entitled to your opinion, but your wrong. But the real question is why do you feel you have to belittle something you have no knowledge of?
David MacKay
Ps. Are you ACF certified or do you still feel that the ACF certification means nothing?