the Challenge

Taking Up
the Challenge
Meeting goals is second nature to Joachim
Buchner, who has set his sights on four
gold medals at the 2008 IKA.
By Kay Orde
Joachim Buchner, CMC, likes a challenge.
He wanted to be a German master chef by
the age of 26, and with that goal accomplished,
aimed to be a U.S. certified master
chef before he turned 30. Another goal
met. His latest challenge is to win four
gold medals with ACF Culinary National
Team USA at the Internationale Kochkunst
Ausstellung (IKA) International Culinary
Art Competition in Erfurt in October.
“Being a Team USA member means
living up to my potential,” Buchner says.
“Throughout my life I have challenged
myself to validate how well I’m doing in
my profession. I’m not the chef who is
telling you how good a cook I am, or
how well I can run a kitchen. I will
show you.”
The National Culinary Review | February 2008
16
Meet Joachim Buchner
Buchner, who is executive chef at
Chevy Chase Club in Chevy Chase,
Md., came to the United States in
1983 to broaden his horizons. In
Germany, he had worked at the
Dusseldorf Hilton, and his U.S.

experience working in small specialty
restaurants and large established hotels
led him to open restaurants for several
new hotels in this country.
A longtime competitor, he joined ACF
Culinary Team USA in 1999 as part of
the supporting staff for Team 2000. “I
experienced a great deal of friendship,
camaraderie and knowledge sharing, and I
was hungry for more,” he says. “Competing
was always a big part of my life. I enjoy the
challenge, and being part of a team is both
challenging and rewarding.”
The reward came in 2004, when ACF Culinary
Team USA, with Buchner as a member,
took home two gold medals in hot food and
cold food, and won back its World Champion
status in the realm of hot-food cookery.
Buchner considers it an honor to represent
the country where he now lives, as well as
Time to play?
A time-consuming hobby is out of
the question for many Team USA
members at this stage in the process
that will take the team to Erfurt in
October. But Buchner has some
fond memories of interests that used
to engage him outside cooking.
“I kind of remember, before Team
USA, there was ballroom dancing,
working on my home, building furniture
and playing with my train set
and my slot cars,” he says.
to represent the chefs who have taught
him. “It is a good feeling to be able to
show your teachers that you’ve learned
their lessons,” he says. “It validates the
time they’ve invested in you.”
Support system
Time. It’s something that Buchner—along
with his fellow team members—doesn’t
have much of these days. The months
leading up to the IKA are filled with
practices and preparations for the competition
in Erfurt against the world’s best
chefs and cooks. Away from work, Team
USA members spend their hours thinking
and breathing the menu that they hope
will take them to the top and validate the
effort and dedication that has consumed
so much of their lives.
Balancing life as it relates to work, family
and team in these months leading up
to the IKA is a matter, Buchner says, of
trying your best. “Each day is a challenge,
and there is no blanket rule on how to
tackle each day. There is only a goal to
do your best at work, because it’s your
financial support. Then you have to push
yourself for the team.”
Buchner’s two sons are in college, but a
niece, 16, is on her way from Germany,
where the rest of the family lives, to
spend six months with her uncle to brush
up on her English. His German family,
Buchner says, show their support of his
efforts on Team USA in a most practical
way. “They store Team USA equipment in
their basement,” he says. “And my boys
best support me by being self-sufficient.”
Joachim Buchner, CMC, left, and
Edward Leonard, CMC, AAC, Team USA
manager, work on a dish during practice
before the 2004 IKA in Erfurt.
Teamwork
In addition to his boys, Buchner considers
ACF his family in the United States. Taking
that analogy a step further, Team USA
would be his closest family members. The
team meets to practice together about
every six weeks. Outside that, they spend
considerable time on individual practice.
“Every chance we have, we work on dishes,
concepts and designs,” Buchner says. “Once
we are happy with the concepts, or plate
presentations, we take photos and e-mail
them to each other for instant feedback.”
That feedback is vital in these months
leading up to the IKA. Much as family
members will take criticism from each
www.acfchefs.org
17

A recipe for Joachim Buchner’s Sautéed
Sea Scallops with Asparagus Tips
and Wheat Berry Salad is in the ACF
Culinary Team USA cookbook, Cooking
with America’s Championship Team
(Feeding Frenzy, Inc., 2005).
John Ormond, Cooking with America’s
Championship Team (Feeding Frenzy, Inc., 2005)
he has no trouble understanding that
others might not see challenge—and
Team USA—in quite the same way that
he sees it.
“First, one needs to appreciate food and
art and the skill needed to accomplish
what we do to really see what it means
to be a member of Team USA,” he says.
“People who understand this will truly
appreciate what the team does.
The National Culinary Review | February 2008
18
other that they wouldn’t countenance
from strangers, members of ACF Culinary
National Team USA help each other to
reach for the best effort they are capable
of producing. The reward is to become a
better chef every day.
“Does it make you a better chef? Or is it
simply executing your profession to the
level you are capable of?” Buchner says.
“Certainly, the team pushes you in many
ways, and yes, the research and development
for Team USA spills over into the
menu planning for your restaurants. This
is why my employer supports me in my
Team USA commitments.”
That commitment leaves little room for R&R.
“There is no time to relax at this point. We
are all working, and if we are not working at
our jobs, we are working on perfecting our
plates for Erfurt,” Buchner says.
But there is no doubt that for Buchner
the benefits of being a member of Team
USA far outweigh the sacrifices. “Those
benefits are, simply, learning new ways to
prepare food, sharing culinary knowledge
with fellow chefs and establishing friendships
with other chefs from around the
world,” he says.
Meeting the challenge
As accomplished chefs already, how are
Team USA members motivated to raise
the bar in cooking within the team and
among themselves? For Buchner, it’s
simple. “Accomplishments are meaningless
unless you continue your quest for
knowledge, so it is easy to be motivated,”
he says. “Coming up with something
unique—that is the challenge.”
There’s that word again—challenge. It
could be called Buchner’s mantra. But
“Each chef has his or her own set of core
values and goals. Thus, each chef needs
to weigh life, career and fame in his or
her own way.”
Team USA Thanks Its
Generous Sponsors