At the beginning of the 20th century, there were no trained chefs in Iceland, but the need and demand increased with each passing year.
In 1915, when the Eimskip shipping company was founded, there were no Icelanders with formal education to work as chefs on the ships. Fifteen years later, all such positions were filled by Icelanders who had then educated themselves in Denmark.
In 1945, a group of restaurateurs met on the premises of the Oddfellows in Reykjavík with the purpose of establishing an association for restaurateurs in Iceland, and the association was named the Icelandic Association of Chefs and Waiters. Article 10 of the association's laws immediately addresses educational matters to promote education in the field.
The first journeyman's examination in the culinary trades was held on September 19, 1945, and 12 people passed.
This is the second episode in a series of podcasts that are the final project of Dóra Svavarsdóttir and Þyrnir Hálfdánarson, master chefs and students at the University of Iceland's School of Education. They produced the episodes in collaboration with Iðan, and they discuss culinary training—then, now, and for all future.
Dóra and Þyrnir talk to master chef Kristján Sæmundsson about the formal education of chefs in Iceland. Kristján is highly experienced and has served on the journeyman's examination committee for culinary arts, in addition to having worked at the city's top restaurants.
IÐAN - A Moment in Industry · Formal Education of Chefs in Iceland, with Master Chef Kristján Sæmundsson