CCFCC - Edmonton: History - Edmonton

The inaugural meeting of the Edmonton Association took place at the Central Y.M.C.A. on August 26, 1960. This was three years prior to the first meeting of the national association and, indeed, some of the key players responsible for the formation of the national Canadian Culinary Federation were our own association members at the time.

The attendees at that first meeting in August of 1960 were:

The association was incorporated November 30, 1960.

In April 1963 the first meeting of what was then called the Canadian Federation of Chefs de Cuisine took place at the Macdonald Hotel in Edmonton. Martin Elgeti, our Branch President, chaired the meeting. Members of the Edmonton association (1963) who attended this historic meeting were: Valentino Aloisio, Bert Bowmeester, Don Campbell, Peter Ferenczy, Norm Gibeault, Marcel Hemery, Fred Kovacs, Valentine Kremsar, John Latham, Joe Lentz, Lynn McLeod, Stuart McLeod, Arthur Munger, Jack Sawchuk and William Schmidts.

In 1974 the WACS Congress was held in Banff, Alberta. This was the first congress to be held outside of Europe. The late Henry Bachman was the chairman for this undertaking. The Edmonton Branch hosted delegates to a Klondike Days evening at the Chateau Lacombe, where the late Clarence (Ernie) Butler was Executive Chef. Henry Bachman also organized the cross-country tour for those delegates who wished to see other parts of Canada.

The Edmonton Branch hosted the National Conventions in 1971 (Hotel Macdonald), in 1988 (Fantasyland Hotel) and in 2005 (Delta Edmonton South).

In 2007 the Branch officially changed its name from the Canadian Federation Of Chefs And Cooks Edmonton Branch to the Canadian Culinary Federation - Edmonton Association aka CCF Edmonton and adopted a new logo.

CCF Edmonton is dedicated to uniting our professional chefs, cooks and industry partners, to promoting the art of cooking and excellence in the trade, to educating our members both professional and juniors and to encouraging students to pursue culinary arts as a career. We provide scholarships to deserving students in the culinary field at the high school, college and apprentice levels.

Chronicling the history of the Edmonton Association is an ongoing process. We whole-heartedly welcome all written recollections from our Branch members.