US State Department Reveals the American Chef Corps

Last week, a group of over 80 chefs were announced as the American Chef Corps, a part of the State Department's Diplomatic Culinary Partnership, and over 50 of them gathered in Washington, DC to celebrate. According to Eater DC, future duties of the Chef Corps may include preparing meals for visiting dignitaries or engaging in cultural exchanges while traveling abroad. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it this way in a video address: "Food isn't traditionally thought of as a diplomatic tool, but I think it's the oldest diplomatic tool. Sharing a meal can help people transcend boundaries and build bridges in a way that nothing else can."

Chefs in the Corps include big names from all over the country: José Andrés, Rick Bayless, John Besh, Masaharu Morimoto, a smattering of Food Network and Top Chef people, and more. See Eater DC for all the best quotes and gossip from the event. The list below is the full Corps "as of September 7," so expect more names to be added in the future.

The Diplomatic Culinary Partnership's American Chef Corps

Victor Albisu
Nick Anderer
José Andrés
Michael Anthony
Dan Barber
Rick Bayless
John Besh
Peter Betz
Richard Blais
April Bloomfield
Jeffrey Buben
Terry Bryant
Peter Callahan
Floyd Cardoz
Michael Chiarello
Joe Cicala
Cris Comerford
Scott Conant
Scott Drewno
Enzo Fargione
Maziar Farivar
Chip Flanagan
Larry Forgione
Amanda Freitag
Hoss Fuentes
David Garcelon
Duff Goldman
Todd Gray
David Guas
Tariq Hanna
Rock Harper
Maria Hines
Ris Lacoste
Robert Irvine
Jean-Marie Lacroix
Mike Isabella
Mourad Lahlou
Jason Larkin
Chris Jakubiec
Chris James
Sam Kass
Robert Kinkead
Ian Knox
Jamie Leeds
Anthony Lombardo
Emily Luchetti
Tony Mantuano
Tony Maws
Spike Mendelsohn
Roland Mesnier
Mary Sue Milliken
Rick Moonen
Masaharu Morimoto
Wes Morton
Marc Murphy
Michel Nischan
Kaz Okochi
Guillermo Pernot
Naomi Pomeroy
Olivier Reginensi
Andrea Reusing
Frank Ruta
Matthew Ridgeway
Charlie Romano
Aaron Sanchez
Richard Sandoval
Marcus Samuelsson
Chris Santos
Kiesha Sellers
Walter Scheib
Barton Seaver
Art Smith
B. Smith
Holly Smith
Angelo Sosa
Kevin Sbraga
Susan Spicer
Curtis Stone
Vikram Sunderam
Ming Tsai
Bryan Voltaggio
Joanne Weir
Robert Weland
Cathy Whims
Alan Wong
Robert Wiedmaier
Bill Yosses
Alex Young
Eric Ziebold
Andrew Zimmerman

· All the Quotes, Gossip and Chef Sightings From the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership Launch Party [Eater DC]
· All American Chefs Corps Coverage on Eater [-E-]