Top Chefs!

A 21-member group of chefs to world leaders gathered recently in London for their annual meeting. They include chefs to heads of Canada, France, Austria, Italy, Poland and Royal Households. To be part of the group you must be the current personal chef of a head of state, or head chef for venues that host official state receptions. When the chefs met the French President last year he stressed the importance of their job, "If you wreck a dish, it's harder to plead a cause," he said. Hilton Little, the chef to the late President Nelson Mandela said, " The thing about Mr Mandela was that he liked his home comforts, he liked his stews and oxtail like his mother used to make. Every time he said I'd cooked something like his mother would have, I knew my job was safe for another year". If a head of state is being hosted by another head of state, the host chef will call the home chef to find out details such as what their principal likes, in what portion, what time of the day they like to eat, etc. Discretion is as important as culinary skills if a chef wants to stay long in the job.