Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
PAST 
Formal culinary industry training began in the Middle-Ages with the introduction of apprenticeships. An 
apprentice was indentured to a master for a period of years to gain skill and knowledge in a specific discipline. The 
indenture process was initially conducted in a family (nuclear or extended) relationship with trade related 
knowledge, considered a valuable commodity, passed down through generations to maintain a source of security and 
income for the family unit (Symons, 2004; Smith and Keating, 1997). As people became more mobile and 
knowledge spread to other areas over time, craft guilds were established to protect and secure the interests of the 
tradesmen, known as journeymen, within their memberships. These guilds increasingly took on the role of 
regulating regional apprenticeship systems and eventually their national systems (Smith and Keating, 1997), 
providing early versions of training reform.
At the end of the 18
th
century the industrial revolution dramatically changed how people were skilled or 
trained (Ray, 2001; Smith and Keating, 1997), not just for the culinary industry but across all industries. Workplace 
reform, brought on by the industrial revolution, saw an end to the traditional artisan guild route for indenture or 
apprenticeship (Smith and Keating, 1997). With modernization and industrialization greater responsibilities fell to 
the governments of the day to provide structures within societies (Hofstede, 1991) to aid growing populations. They 
provided education and ultimately took control, from the guilds, over all areas of training and working conditions 
(Ray, 2001; Smith and Keating, 1997). This lead to a strengthening of the contractual arrangements between master 
and apprentice and saw further regulation of the training provided, wages paid and working conditions (Smith and 
Keating, 1997; Ray, 2001).
Changes were also occurring in commercial kitchens as a result of the industrial revolution. By 1849, Chef 
Alexis Soyer had created his ‘Magic Stove’, which brought the chef out of the kitchen and into the

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