Mark Ainsworth ’86

Course: Culinary Skills Verification and Residency One Faculty.

Chef Mark Ainsworth is currently a professor of Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of America and has taught dozens of classes for both professionals and food enthusiasts. For over 15 years, Chef Ainsworth was a member of CIA’s consulting division and has worked throughout the world for many large companies in training, product and recipe development, and consulting. Highlights of his 35-year career, include Restaurant Le Bernardin in New York City, Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich Germany, executive chef for Clipper Cruise lines as well as chef at The Pusser’s Landing restaurant in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Awards include two Marc Sarrazin Cup gold medals from Societe Culinaire Philanthropique, and a silver medal at the Sixth International Dietetic Cooking Competition in Bad Worishofen Germany. Chef Ainsworth is the author of many articles featured in magazines and trade publications. He was a contributing author for a text book on childhood obesity, and is the author of CIA’s Kitchen Pro Series book, The Kitchen Professional, Fish and Seafood: Identification, Fabrication, and Utilization (Delmar Cengage Learning, 2009) as well as a children’s cook book, The Young Chef Recipes and Techniques for Kids Who Like to Cook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2015). The Young Chef was awarded the 2017 best in category award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Chef Ainsworth has a BA from the University of South Carolina and an AOS from the Culinary Institute of America.