The International Exhibition of Culinary Art (in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung'' or IKA), termed the Culinary Olympics, is a quadrennial

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

competition, and the biggest

culinary Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

exhibition in the world.Dixon, Rachel, ''The Guardian'': Nibbles (October 23, 2008)
What are the Culinary Olympics?
/ref> Last held in 2024, the event has in recent years been organised in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Though the

Bocuse d'Or The Bocuse d'Or (the ''Concours mondial de la cuisine'', World Cooking Contest) is a :wikt:biennial, biennial world chef championship. Named for the chef Paul Bocuse, the event takes place during two days near the end of January in Lyon, France, a ...

of France is frequently referred to as the culinary equivalent of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, Smillie, Dirk, ''Forbes.com'' (June 5, 2007)
French Toast
/ref>Fabricant, Florence, ''The New York Times'' (May 28, 2008)

/ref> it is

biannual An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the date of independence of the nation or the adoption o ...

and not separated by an

olympiad An olympiad (, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the Ancient Olympic Games, ancient and Olympic Games, modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Archaic Greece, Greece ...

, i.e. a period of four years.

History

Conceived by a group of German chefs in 1896 with an aim to promote German cuisine to the world while receiving impulses from other cooking cultures, the first competition was arranged in 1900 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

with four nations participating. Initially organized by the ''Internationalen Verbandes der Köche'' (International Association of Chefs) in cooperation with other organizations, it became subject to

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's ban of all international societies during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.unichef.co
Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung, Culinary Olympics
Every event took place in Frankfurt until 1996 when it was moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Since 2000 it has been staged at Erfurt. The 2012 event involved 54 nations with 1,600 participating chefs, with Sweden coming in first place, Norway placing second and Germany in third. Sweden was also the winner in the Junior Team competition.

Competition disciplines

Involving large chef teams, the nations compete in a number of categories, most with subcategories: *National - Senior: Competition Category "Restaurant of Nations", Competition Category A "Culinary Art", Competition Category B "Culinary Art" and Competition Category "Pâtisserie" *National - Junior: Competition Category "Hot Kitchen and Culinary Studio", Competition Category A "Cold Platter", Competition Category B "Culinary Art" and Competition Category C "Pâtisserie" *Military: Competition Category R "Restaurant of Nations" and Competition Category B "Cooking" *Community Catering *Regional: Category A "Culinary Art" and Category B "Culinary Art" *Individual: Category A "Culinary Art", Category B "Culinary Art", Category C "Pâtisserie", Category D - "Culinary Artistry - Cold Kitchen, Showpiece" and Category D- "Culinary Artistry -Pâtisserie, Showpiece"

References

External links

Culinary Olympics official site
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IKA 2008 Culinary Olympics
WACS Cooking competitions