About Chef Marc

Chef Marc Vogel, aka "Cuisinier Mondial," represents a relative rarity within the ranks of the cooking elite: a self-taught chef whose combination of original ideas and classical mastery has made him a highly respected member of the international culinary community. He embarked on his cooking career by opening his first restaurant without any formal training at an age when most Americans are busy adapting to the responsibility of voting. Now a culinarian for more than 30 years, Chef Marc has taught for the past eight—time permitting—at the California Culinary Academy (CCA) in his native San Francisco.

The fact that time does not always permit is, in his case, the result of perhaps the most important ingredient that Chef Marc brings to the table: an unparalleled enthusiasm for the culinary arts and an unquenchable urge to share his fervor for fine food and knowledge of how to create it with people from around the world. So when he isn't to be found teaching at the CCA or shopping for ingredients around town, it's highly likely that Chef Marc is packing his knives and seasonings to head out to one of the numerous culinary events in which he participates—both close to home and far around the globe.

In the past two years, his local guest chef stints have included the Napa Mustard Festival, a fund-raiser for San Francisco's Alzheimer's clinic, the March of Dimes Star Chefs of the Bay Area event, and the CCA's own Culinary Arts Festival, held in the public plaza across from the SF City Hall. A little further from home, on July 28, 2001, Chef Marc was invited to act as executive chef for the inauguration of the new president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo. And just last October, he was invited to cook for the U.S. Pavilion at the Anuga food festival in Koln, Germany. In fact, at this writing, Chef Marc has taken his culinary skills to no fewer than a dozen countries, as well as having made a lasting impression in a wide variety of U.S. venues.

Chef Marc's career highlights also include a 1986 invitation to cook on the K-2 expedition in China and a 1988 dinner in Mexico sponsored by Cuervo, as well as the honor of being the first American chef to be asked to cook at Albert Roux's famed, "Le Gavroche," one of London's first three-star Michelin restaurants. A relationship of mutual respect blossomed between the two chefs, and since then, Chef Marc has returned to Gavroche for several special events held under the auspices of the International Wine & Food Society and Les Amis de "C." A final achievement of which he is justly proud took place back on this side of the Atlantic, when Chef Marc's unique "Walnesto" recipe won first place in a contest cosponsored by Colavita olive oil and the California Walnut board—and open to instructors from cooking schools across the United States.