International Chefs Day
Next: October 20, 2027
Thank the person who cooks for you.
The story
Where it comes from
International Chefs Day was founded in 2004 by the Johannesburg-based chef Dr Bill Gallagher, a former president of Worldchefs, the World Association of Chefs' Societies, and is held every year on 20 October. Worldchefs itself goes back to October 1928, when chefs from 17 countries met at the Sorbonne in Paris and named Auguste Escoffier their first honorary president. The day celebrates the profession and its duty to teach the next generation, with a focus on children and healthy food.
How it's celebrated
Chefs around the world run cooking workshops for children, visit schools and farms, and teach where ingredients come from, using a free toolkit from Worldchefs. Others organise food donations with their teams. For everyone else, it is a day to thank the person who cooks for you, whether that is a hawker, a head chef or a parent at home.
Did you know
- Singapore hosted the Worldchefs Congress in 1990, the first time it was held in Asia, and again in 2024; Kuala Lumpur hosted it in 2018.
- Worldchefs today brings together about 110 national chefs' associations.
- Worldchefs remembers Dr Bill Gallagher, who died in 2016, as the 'Father of International Chefs Day'.
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