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Johannes G. Verdonkschot, C.E.C, A.A.C, H.O.F Lifetime Achievement Award

Lifetime Achievement Award Created in Honor of Jan Verdonkschot

Chef Johannes G. Verdonkschot, C.E.C, A.A.C., H.O.F. was a dedicated member of the Chefs de Cuisine (the St. Louis chapter of the American Culinary Federation, ACF) who made numerous contributions to the development of our chapter and to the national ACF. In recognition of his outstanding activities, the chapter has created a Lifetime Achievement Award in his honor; to be called the Johannes G. Verdonkschot Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here is a brief summary of his accomplishments:

Born in 1929 in Heemstede, The Netherlands, he immigrated to the United States in 1956. Three days later, he started working in St. Louis at the Chase Plaza Hotel.

He joined the ACF Chefs de Cuisine of St. Louis chapter in 1960, remaining an active member for 56 years, until his death in 2016. During that time,  he served the chapter as secretary and twice as president. During that time, he earned his ACF Certified Executive Chef (C.E.C) certification, elected into the American Academy of Chefs (A.A.C., the national honor society of the ACF),  and inducted into the national ACF Hall of Fame (H.O.F.). 

He served seven years as the national Secretary of the ACF. In addition, he was the regional director of the AAC for many years. He compiled and wrote the ACF's first chapter handbook which, with the help of his dear friend in Las Vegas, Chef Jean Clary, and the support of Howard Hughes, 5,000 copies of the handbook were printed.

In 1968, during an ACF board meeting in Dallas, Texas, he proposed a certification program for chefs and pastry chefs. At that time, culinary work was considered a trade, not a profession. As the founder and chairman of the ACF certification program, he fought for, developed, and implemented our national chefs' certification program, and helped to develop a similar program for U.S. army. As a result of his efforts, the US Department of Labor ultimate reclassified culinary work as a profession, which provided many benefits to the chefs and to the industry.

In 1970, he was elected the ACF's national Chef of the Year.

He was elected to the Honorable Order of the Golden Toque, the highest acclaimed recognition a chef can receive in America. ​Originally founded in France and brought to this country in 1961, the Honorable Order of the Golden Toque was established to give recognition to Chefs of at least twenty years service, who have achieved professional attainment of high estate, abiding interest in professional progress and devoted and distinguished service to the Culinary Profession and Arts.  Membership is restricted to One Hundred life-time members.

In 2004, he was inducted into the American Academy of Chefs culinary Hall of Fame.

Over the years, he participated in, organized, and judged numerous national and international culinary shows.

Locally, for five years, he was a regular guest on Jack Carney's KMOX radio show, in a segment called "Ask the Chef". To quote him "We did some major eye-popping events ... Cooking for kids, shows for charity, they raffled us off on Channel 9, there were downtown culinary extravaganzas, starting at the old post office with ice carvings and ending up in the hub of the city, with the streets barricaded and thousands upon thousands of people enjoying local and international foods".

He devoted his life to the pursuit of culinary excellence, and sharing his skills, and wisdom with future chefs in training. He always said that one of the best times of his life was his 12 years as executive chef at the Missouri Athletic Club, where he had started an apprenticeship program and had seven apprentices. The M.A.C. was a great supporter of the Chefs de Cuisine.

In recognition of his incomparable achievements that benefited the Chefs de Cuisine, the American Culinary Federation, the mentoring and development of chefs in the US and abroad, and his impact on the professional status of chefs throughout the U.S., we humbly create the Johannes G. Verdonkschot Lifetime Achievement Award.