In 1936, a group of former students of famous French chef Auguste Escoffier formed Les Amis d'Escoffier Society in New York City to promote and educate about fine dining. The Society holds biannual dinners where food and wine are analyzed and new members are inducted. An adjunct foundation provides scholarships for culinary students. Joseph Donon, one of the founders, was a renowned chef himself who had studied under Escoffier and went on to serve prestigious families before helping establish the Society and Museum dedicated to Escoffier.

1. A Brief History
In 1936, a group of epicures, many of them former
pupils of Auguste Escoffier, gathered at The
Waldorf=Astoria to discuss the formation of what was
to become the nation’s foremost fraternity of dedicated
gastronomes, Les Amis d’Escoffier Society of New
York, Inc.
Now a major institution in the culinary world, the
Society has gathered annually at a common table, in
the spring and fall, to provide opportunities for its
members’ delight and edification and also generate
gains in the perfection of the art of fine dining. The
latter objective is promoted through the support of
culinary education.
Between courses during each dinner, leading food
and wine professionals comment on each dish and the
wine with which it is served. To make the dinners an
educational experience for amateurs and professionals
alike, food is assessed for its preparation, texture,
presentation and service. Observations are made
concerning the wine, its suitability for the dish with
which it was paired, composition, origin and the
background of its producers.
An adjunct to the Society is Les Amis d’Escoffier
Society Foundation, Inc., founded in 1955 as a non-

2. profit, charitable organization that provides scholar­ships
for students of the culinary arts.
The organization’s most important events are the spring
and fall dinners, truly culinary extravaganzas, during
which new members are inducted. To further cultivate
culinary venues, smaller monthly epicurean dinners are
arranged throughout the year for members to experience
various restaurants in the New York metropolitan area.
The organization also holds an annual fundraiser, a
reception to raise additional money for the Foundation’s
Scholarship Fund.
Biography of Auguste Escoffier
(1846-1935)
Auguste Escoffier, “The Chef of Kings and the King of
Chefs” was born in Villeneuve-Loubet, Alpes Maritimes,
France, in 1846. His career in cookery began at the age
of 12, when he entered into an apprenticeship at his
uncle’s restaurant in Nice.
Escoffier went on to another apprenticeship at the age of
19, this time working in Paris, and his career from that
point on is legendary, in terms of the hotels in which he
worked (among them the Savoy and the Carlton of
London), the contributions that he made to the aesthetics
of gastronomy, and, perhaps most important, the
revolutionary changes he made in upgrading the
professional culinary arts.
Prior to Escoffier’s time, the Grande Cuisine was laden
with excesses — overly complicated recipes, ponderously
extravagant dinners, sauces and garnishes that disguised
main ingredients nearly beyond recognition. In
accordance with his admonition, “above all, keep it
simple,” Escoffier developed a new gastronomic

3. philosophy, a sense of finely honed and highly refined
simplicity in dining, ideals that have been espoused by
the finest chefs of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Escoffier’s contributions to the culinary arts range far
beyond those innovations that are immediately apparent
totheeyesandpalateoftheconnoisseur.Hisestablishment
of the streamlined, highly organized brigade system is
singularly responsible for eliminating the chaotic,
unpleasant atmosphere that once reigned in professional
kitchens. Repulsed by the foul language and lack of
concern for cleanliness all too common in 19th-century
kitchens, Escoffier established sanitation standards and
instilled in his subordinates a real respect for the
wholesomeness of the food they served.
One of the earliest chefs of note to have a sincere interest
in preserving the nutritional value of the foods he
prepared and served, Escoffier had an expertise in food
science that extended even to his being a pioneer in food
preservation and in developing sauces that could be
bottled for the homemaker.
Escoffier promoted the belief that food service
professionals at all levels should be dedicated to improving
their skills and general knowledge through education.
He was himself the author of numerous articles and
books on cookery, the most famous of his works being
Le Guide Culinaire and A Guide to Modern Cookery.

4. Biography of Joseph Donon,
Founding Father (1888-1982)
Joseph Donon, one of the founders of Les Amis
d’Escoffier Society, was a world-renowned chef in his
own right. One of the last surviving students of the great
French master, Auguste Escoffier, Mr. Donon died at 94
in 1982.
He had served as the first president of the Society and,
later, of the Foundation. At the time of his death, he held
the title of President Emeritus of the Society.
Mr. Donon had been chef de cuisine for Henry Clay Frick
at the Frick homes on Fifth Avenue and in Pittsburgh
and Prides Crossing, Mass., before World War I. Later,
for 38 years, he served as the private chef for Mrs.
Hamilton McK. Twombly, daughter of William H.
Vanderbilt. He retired from employment by the Twombly
Estates in 1955 when he was 67.
Born in Chantilly, France, the son of a dairy farmer, Mr.
Donon entered the cooking profession when he was 13,
starting in the kitchen of a hotel owned by a friend of
his father.
After serving as assistant chef in the Mexican Embassy in
Neuilly, he became assistant to the chef for the Marquis
de Panisse-Passis at Villeneuve-Loubet. It was there that
Escoffier, a luncheon guest of the Marquis, discovered
the young Mr. Donon, who had prepared the meal that
day.
The chef at the Carlton Hotel in London, Escoffier
invited the 17-year-old Mr. Donon to visit him should he
ever come to London. Mr. Donon resigned six weeks
later and joined Escoffier at the Carlton.
He met Mr. Frick several years later when, at Escoffier’s
request, he prepared a dinner for the American and 19
friends.

5. Before and after his retirement, Mr. Donon devoted
much of his time and money to advancing the cause of
the Society and Foundation. He also helped to set up the
Museum of Culinary Art at Villeneuve-Loubet, France.
This is housed in Escoffier’s birthplace, also the home in
which he grew up.
After retiring, Mr. Donon worked as a consultant. He
had been associated with the Advisory Commission on
Hotel Technology, the New York City Community
College of Applied Arts and Sciences, the Advisory
Committee on Culinary Art of the Food Trades Voca­
tional High School in New York City and the Culinary
Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. For 18
years, he had been chairman of the Annual Salon of
Culinary Art and Exhibition of New York City, held in
connection with the International Hotel/Motel and
Restaurant Show. The Salon is sponsored by the Societe
Culinaire Philanthropique.
His book, TheClassicFrenchCuisine, published by Alfred
A. Knopf in September, 1959, was reprinted four times
and sold more than 25,000 copies. It is now out of
print.