Story and photos by Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet TM
All rights reserved
The indomitable Travelling Gourmet TM goes to CIA for a…
MEMORABLE lunch with the MD of CIA in Singapore, Eve Felder, CEC CIA (1988).
CIA not only stands for Central Intelligence Agency, but also for the premier University for the Culinary Arts and Wine Studies…Culinary Institute of America. Interestingly, CIA, known to spooks as the Company, was founded in 1947. On July 26, 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act and the Company was born. The forerunner of CIA was the OSS or Office of Strategic Services, famed for its men and women who fought the Nazis behind enemy lines. Their officers were reputed to be: “PhDs who could win bar fights…” Back to more peaceful pursuits…CIA was founded one year earlier on 22 May 1946. Its aim was to provide vocational training for the many GIs returning from fighting the Nazis in World War 2. It proved to be a big success and now has four campuses. The main campus in Hyde Park, New York. Another is in St. Helena in Napa Valley’s Wine Country where I studied. There is one in San Antonio, Texas and the first one in Asia is in sunny Singapore!
2010: The Culinary Institute of America, Singapore opened as the first international campus. Thanks to the CIA’s historic partnership with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), students in Asia now have the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS) degree in culinary arts management in the new 30,000-square-foot facility on the campus of Temasek Polytechnic.
OSS veteran and one of the first so-called Celebrity Chefs, Julia Childs, was the first woman inducted into the Culinary Institute of America’s hall of fame. Jerome, son of mon ami, 3 Michelin Star Masterchef Paul Bocuse, graduated from CIA in 1992. World renowned Masterchef Paul Bocuse said, “The first time I visited, I knew I had finally found a school that teaches the traditions of the world’s cuisines. It’s the best culinary school in the world.”
Frankly, I used to be a spook but it got too dangerous and hazardous to my health…so I decided to make a career change to the world of Food and Wine…
Life is short so eat well, drink well and live well… 🙂
To be continued…
The Travelling Gourmet 