For decades, the evaluation of culinary work existed in a blurred space between personal taste, professional experience, and public opinion. Chefs were judged, awards were granted, and reputations were shaped—often without a clear distinction between subjective evaluation and professional arbitration.

This confusion raised a fundamental question:
Who has the authority to decide, on what basis, and with what legitimacy?

The Problem Before Formalization

Historically, culinary judgment relied heavily on individual perception and unstructured expertise. While experience and taste are invaluable, they are insufficient to produce a professional, accountable decision.

As a result, opinions were presented as verdicts, popularity replaced legitimacy, and media exposure was mistaken for institutional authority. Without written standards, decisions lacked transparency, traceability, and accountability.

Arbitration as a Professional Discipline

Modern international culinary and gastronomy arbitration is not an extension of personal taste. It is a structured professional system, governed by written references, predefined criteria, ethical frameworks, and documented decision-making processes.

Arbitration is not an opinion—it is a documented professional decision that produces direct organizational consequences within competitions, accreditations, and classifications. Its legitimacy does not derive from fame or personal reputation, but from strict adherence to an approved institutional framework.

A Critical Distinction: Arbitration vs. Evaluation

Media reviews and taste-based evaluations are valuable forms of expression, but they remain non-binding personal viewpoints. They do not generate regulatory or institutional outcomes.

Professional arbitration, by contrast, is a regulated function with defined responsibilities, authority, and ethical obligations. Confusing these two domains undermines the profession, misleads participants, and erodes trust.

From Practice to Methodology

The true transformation occurred when culinary arbitration moved from informal practice to a structured professional science. This foundational shift included:

• Establishing a written professional definition of culinary arbitration

• Building a comprehensive reference framework of standards and regulations

• Creating a clear methodological separation between arbitration and subjective evaluation

• Defining a regulated scope of professional authority

• Developing a progressive educational pathway culminating in a professional doctorate

Through this process, arbitration became teachable, reviewable, and accountable.

Ethics and the Responsibility of the Arbitrator

A professional arbitrator is not measured solely by sensory acuity, but by ethical conduct: neutrality, independence, disclosure of conflicts of interest, respect for confidentiality, and strict adherence to written standards.

Any breach of these principles is not a personal failure—it is a professional violation that justifies disciplinary action or revocation of arbitration status.

Education and the Professional Doctorate

The adoption of a structured educational pathway was not an academic luxury, but a professional necessity. At its highest level, the professional doctorate is designed to produce experts capable of analyzing arbitration systems, developing evaluation models, and contributing to the evolution of the reference framework itself.

It is a level of responsibility, not a title.

Institutional Impact

This scientific and organizational foundation has had a clear professional impact: raising standards, unifying terminology, strengthening institutional trust, and protecting the culinary field from misleading titles and unregulated practices.

Conclusion

International culinary and gastronomy arbitration is no longer a grey area between opinion and authority. It is now a structured discipline, governed by written standards, ethical accountability, and institutional oversight—without claiming governmental power.

Cooking is an art.
Arbitration is a responsibility.

Source:
International Culinary & Gastronomy Arbitration
By Chef Ahmad Maadarani