Next to experience, the knowledge of history has a direct impact on one’s knowledge development and learning. No matter your trade or specialisation the knowledge of the past has an important added value to future inspiration.

During our visit to the Le Bouveret Campus of César Ritz College, last January, we experienced the true value of history in culinary education. Students of the Swiss Education Group have the unique opportunity to use for their learning and research. This collection is the lifework of Anton Mossimann, a living legend in Swiss and British gastronomy.

Anton Mosimann (1947) started his culinary career as an apprentice at the age of 15, to receive his diploma of chef de cuisine when he was 25 years old. Internships with some of the best chefs of his time have helped him to grow and develop his own style. He travelled the world to develop his skills in leading restaurants in Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Canada and Japan. In 1975 he was appointed Executive Chef at the Dorchester in London. During his thirteen years of service, its restaurant achieved a rating of two stars in the Michelin Guide. At that time, it was the first hotel restaurant outside of France to do so.

Mosimann terms his culinary style cuisine ‘naturelle’ as it emphasises healthy and natural ingredients, avoiding additions of fat and alcohol.

After leaving The Dorchester in 1988 he created “Mosimann's”, a private dining club in a converted Scottish Presbyterian church in Belgravia. His guests have included members of royal families, politicians, heads of state and numerous personalities from the world of show business, hailing from all four corners of the globe.

In 2016 The Mosimann Collection of Culinary Heritage opened at Le Bouveret Campus, on the shores of Lake Geneva. The collection is an impressive exhibition and library dedicated to his life and culinary arts. Hundreds of restaurant menus exhibit the evolution of fine dining over a century. The photos of large kitchen brigades and hotel restaurants witness the history of the grand hotels and its restaurants. Anton Mosimann is one of the last professionals in gastronomy standing who worked in the era of culinary giants like Auguste Escoffier and a legend in hospitality like César Ritz.

During his entire career Mossimann has documented all of his work. The documents in the collection contain detailed information about what he has cooked for five British prime ministers at No. 10 Downing Street for visiting heads of state, for four presidents of the United States of America and four generations of the British Royal Family. You can research his preparation for the 300 guests at the evening reception of the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton in Buckingham Palace. His extensive library of cookery books is displayed alongside more than fifty gold medals.

The The Mosimann Collection of Culinary Heritage is more than an exhibition of Anton’s memoires. This is an inspiring place where an important part of the history of gastronomy is available for students and chefs who have the aspiration to design the future.

The collection is open to the public every Sunday between 1.30pm and 5.30pm and upon request.

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