Our History

The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts was established in 1980 as part of the Académie Culinaire de France, whose origins go back as far as 1883.

Founded by French chemist Joseph Favre, its remit was to collect and catalogue every classic recipe. The British arm of the Académie came out of Club 9, a group of highly regarded chefs des cuisines, who met monthly to discuss the culinary business of the day. The Académie Culinaire de France Filiale de Grande Bretagne was launched at The Connaught on 6th December 1980, with Michel Bourdin as founder president and Albert Roux as vice president. The early days of the British Académie were made possible by immense support from Moët & Chandon and its CEO Patrick Forbes.

The 25 Founder Members were

Jean Bellavita - Michel Bourdin - Brian Cotterill - Martin Davies - Joël Défaut

André Durand - Bernard Gaume - Professor John Huber - Eugene Käufeler - Peter Kromberg

Emile Léfèbvre - Gilbert Lefèvre - Henri Lullier - Oswald Mair - Julien Martell

Anton Mosimann - Guy Mouilleron - Christian Moury - Georges Piotet - Albert Roux OBE

Richard Shepherd CBE - D Toinard - Jacques Viney - Louis Virot - Uwe Zander

Honorary Founder Members: Martin Skan, Paolo Zago and Sir Hugh Wontner