Anton Mosimann to open culinary museum

Culinary icon Anton Mosimann is to open a museum in Switzerland in June 2016, in partnership with the Swiss Education Group, which will share his private collection of culinary memorabilia.

Located at the César Ritz College in Le Bouverest, the collection - open to students of the college and the wider public - will exhibit more than 3,000 items including 50 gold medals from international culinary competitions, 120 diplomas and awards and 250 menus. Among those on display will be menus from numerous events Mosimann has overseen at Number 10 and Buckingham Palace - including their guest lists - as well as other historical menus he has collected throughout his career. His oldest menu dates back to 1850.

Mosimann, who achieved two Michelin stars at the Dorchester, London, early in his career before going on to open his legendary private members' club, Mosimann's, in Belgravia, was speaking on the first day of Hotelympia at London ExCeL as he was presented with the exhibition's Lifetime Achievement Award and entered into its Hall of Fame.

He told the audience that the exhibition, entitled The Mosimann Collection: A Culinary Heritage, will also feature a selection of Mosimann's 3,000 cookery books, one of which dates back to 1477 and is written in Latin. Asked what his Latin was like, Mosimann quipped: "Not very good".

Speaking to The Caterer's publisher Mark Lewis, Mosimann said that another book on display will be a copy of the first book written by Bartolomeo Scappi, chef to the Pope, which was published in 1570. The book holds approximately 1,000 recipes of the Renaissance cuisine and gives the first-known image of a fork.

The son of restaurateur parents also confirmed that he was currently writing his autobiography. He said: "As I have had such an amazing life travelling all over the world, working in 75 cities, I thought that I would like to share my experiences with other people too."

In closing, he congratulated the audience on their choice of hospitality as a profession. "It's such a wonderful career, it's great to give happiness to your guests, your friends, your colleagues, it requires hard work, dedication, but it's a good feeling. If I go around the restaurant after dinner and see people smiling and happy, it makes me happy too - it's not always about the money - it's a solid career, which you can build up slowly and one day you will make it. It can be amazing, and good fun, and you can travel the world at the same time."

In being inaugurated into the Hotelympia Hall of Fame, Mosimann joins other industry legends including Raymond Blanc, Sir Terence Conran and Albert and Michel Roux.

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