France wins the 2021 Bocuse d’Or international gastronomy prize

“He’s really coming home”, exulted the French chef, Lyon moreover, Davy Tissot, waving the Bocuse d’Or, Monday September 27. France won the trophy at the end of this kind of world cup of gastronomy, marked this year by the health context.

“It’s been almost 10 years since he came home. What I’m most proud of is that as a Lyonnais, that’s huge (…) tomorrow (Tuesday) I will be proud to take him home to Collonges, to Paul Bocuse’s hostel, where a plaque with his name will be affixed alongside those of the previous winners, Davy Tissot told reporters.

At the head of the French team, Davy Tissot holds a Michelin star at Saisons, the application restaurant of the Paul Bocuse Institute, located in Écully, in the Lyon metropolitan area.

France thus won its eighth Bocuse d’Or after many years of successive disappointments. The previous victory was in 2013.

“I believe that we were able to show a good work, we did not want to copy, we did not act like, we made made in France and today it pays”, estimated the president of the French team, the two-starred chef Serge Vieira, at the end of this competition held over two days with 24 participants as part of Sirha, the major global meeting for catering professionals.

Tomato candy “purple plum”

In the stands, after a calm morning, the French, Italian and Swedish supporters gave their voice shortly before the awards ceremony, gradually reviving the effervescence of previous editions.

Food blogger Mercotte, wearing a blue-white-red scarf around her neck, encouraged a “very good candidate, who is Meilleur Ouvrier de France and therefore used to competitions”.

According to the Lyon chef Christian Têtedoie, member of the Organizing Committee, the new “take away” test proposed for this first edition of the competition since the health crisis, has aroused “a lot of concern on the part of the candidates”, for some “jostled”.

“It’s a luxury ‘take away’,” says the chef, highlighting the “incredible imagination” of the candidates.

In addition to the traditional plate around the beef chuck, this new event, where a starter, a main course and a dessert on the theme of the cherry tomato had to be offered in a “box”, recall the rise of take-out catering in France. since the health constraints related to Covid-19.

As a main course, the winning chef notably proposed a tomato completely stuffed with shrimp, accompanied by a juice of tomato shrimp heads, a virgin in basil oil and mushrooms from France and selected herbs.

For dessert, he split a “purple plum” tomato candy with a fermented and fruity tomato, a coulis of it, oil from the leaves and variegated flowers and purple oxalis.

“At the height of innovation”

“The level rises with each edition,” said the president of the competition, Jérôme Bocuse, the son of the legendary “Monsieur Paul”, who died in 2018. “Even with a simple product like cherry tomatoes, there are things extraordinary, ”he added, praising the“ creativity ”of the competitors.

“In the Organizing Committee, our job is to always innovate, to think about trends (…) The ‘take away’ was the only solution during the crisis and made it possible to discover slightly different techniques “, considers the three-star chef and president of the organizing committee, Régis Marcon.

The health crisis has led to a + 47% growth in take-out between 2019 and 2021. Some 85% of professionals who have adopted it plan to continue, according to figures provided by Sirha.

Highlight of this final: the arrival of Emmanuel Macron, who stayed for about ten minutes on Monday during the tastings, after announcing some measures in favor of restaurateurs.

“It is important that a president has taken the measure of that (international competitions) because we are at the height of innovation”, estimates chef Serge Vieira, himself winner of the Bocuse d’Or in 2005.

The previous edition, in 2019, was won by the Danish Kenneth Toft-Hansen.

With AFP