France wins culinary Olympics with top prize in Bocuse d'Or competition

FRANCE 24 English

France has won the top prize in the prestigious Bocuse d'Or cooking competition, beating 23 other countries including Denmark and Sweden. Receiving first place was particularly sweet for 28-year-old chef Paul Marcon, as his father also won the award 30 years ago. In this edition of Entre Nous, we discuss how such competitions have become a lucrative soft power tool for nations like France.   Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Also in France, 28-year-old chef Paul Marcon led the French team to win the prestigious

00:05Bocuse d'Or cooking competition, beating 23 other countries, including Denmark and

00:11Sweden in the process.

00:13The contest got underway over the weekend near the southern French city of Lyon.

00:16Charlotte Hughes has more now about the prestigious award and its second-generation French winner.

00:25Scenes of celebration as Francis Paul Marcon was declared the winner of the Bocuse d'Or

00:29cooking contest.

00:32His success in the competition, often referred to as the culinary Olympics, comes 30 years

00:37after his father won the prestigious award.

00:40For the 28-year-old, it marks the culmination of months of hard work and preparation.

00:45I feel a lot of pride and that I've accomplished something.

00:51It's a childhood dream.

00:52It's a source of pride to take France to the top again.

00:55There are always ups and downs and it was tough at one point.

00:58We were able to pick ourselves up, keep going, catch up, send in on time and now it's paying

01:03off.

01:06Twenty-four countries, including Denmark and Sweden, took part in the final of the contest,

01:12which kicked off over the weekend near Lyon.

01:15Participants had to prepare several dishes, including one featuring celery, lean meats

01:20and lobster.

01:22Marcon's pie with braised venison, shoulder and red wine was a hit with the judges and

01:26organisers.

01:27It was clean, it was crisp, there's nothing else to say except bravo.

01:34Congratulations to the French team and their commitment.

01:38It marks the ninth time France has come out on top in the competition, founded in 1987

01:43by renowned Lyon-based chef Paul Bocuse, who died in 2018.

01:48The previous edition, two years ago, was won by Denmark.

01:53For more on this story, I'm joined on the set by our Solange Mougin.

01:56Hello, Solange.

01:57So, as we just heard, this was a particularly happy moment for both France and for the Marcon

02:02family.

02:03Yeah, the Bocuse d'Or really fits the bill of telling a story about a team and about

02:08a chef conquering challenges through perseverance and through skill, all the while representing

02:14their nation.

02:15And in that sense, it really is sort of a culinary Olympics.

02:18I watched the live stream and the crowds in the stands in Lyon were roaring for their

02:22countries and for this family.

02:24And that made the joy even greater, as Paul Marcon did indeed, at age 28, make history

02:33by winning this award 30 years after his father, Régis.

02:36He wasn't even born when his father won in 1995.

02:40So there is this element of this being the first sort of multigenerational win that fits

02:46well with the spirit of the Bocuse d'Or.

02:48It's called the Culinary Olympics, and it was founded in 1987 by the famous French chef

02:53Paul Bocuse, who often went by the name Monsieur Paul, before he died in 2018.

02:59Now, today, the president of the competition is his son, who is also a renowned chef, Jérôme

03:04Bocuse.

03:05Now, these narratives of family legacy fit well with the aspect of cultural and family

03:10transmission that is so central to cooking.

03:14And that is also part of why the competition garners so much interest, along with the fact

03:18that we are in this era of celebrity chefs and TV reality shows about cooking.

03:23As for the Bocuse d'Or, it doesn't just pit 24 chefs and their teams against one another,

03:28but it also pits nations against one another.

03:31So it is, for many spectators at least, a competition where you can say, if you win

03:35it, that, say, France is the golden medal of gastronomy.

03:39And from there, you can boast potentially that France has the best cuisine in the world.

03:44But I guess that really is the big question.

03:45I mean, does France still have the best cuisine in the world?

03:48Well, it really depends on the competition and how you qualify such things.

03:52Is the best food about haute gastronomie like the Bocuse d'Or, or is it mom's food, or is

03:57it street food, or the number of Michelin stars?

04:00There are so many parameters when it comes to a nation's food heritage.

04:03But if we focus just on the competition, the Bocuse d'Or is the largest and most famous

04:08one.

04:09And the competition, it's a biannual event.

04:11It is fierce.

04:13It's not just among the 24 selected nations, but also in regard to their dishes.

04:18The French team said that they were working on theirs for two years, practicing their

04:22movements, their skills, to ensure that they put out the best dishes in record time.

04:27For the first dish, they had four hours and 40 minutes to cook something with celery,

04:32fish, and a lobster.

04:34The second plate was a main dish with three sides using venison, foie gras, and tea to

04:39be done in five hours and 30 minutes.

04:42And both plates had to highlight the team's food heritage while also innovating with precision.

04:47You could easily argue that the competition is a bit biased, considering that it is held

04:51just outside Lyon, and it is French.

04:54But the jury is actually made up of a group of international chefs.

04:57And as we just heard, Denmark won two years ago at the last edition.

05:02It's actually won three times before.

05:04Norway has five titles, and France has won nine.

05:07So France has won the most, but it is a hard-won honor that many nations seek out, in part

05:14because of the payoff.

05:15Ah, so this is the interesting bit.

05:17What is the payoff?

05:18Why are so many international countries interested in this?

05:20Well, the beaucouse d'or, like other competitions and like gastronomy on the whole, is an effective

05:25tool when it comes to soft power, be it on the economic front or be it on the geopolitical

05:30front.

05:31Not only are there corporate sponsors and companies vying for influence here, but tourism

05:36sectors also have their eye on this.

05:38For example, Visit Sweden, they made a promo video about its gastronomy, featuring this

05:43year's chef even before the competition was over.

05:46He ended up winning bronze.

05:47And in France, there is a long tradition and a continued effort to promote French food,

05:52both abroad and at home.

05:55Last year, the government, they launched a campaign to invest in young chefs in French

05:59cooking schools in France and abroad, and in competitions like this one, for the very

06:05reason that promoting French food sells.

06:09France also has programs like Gout de France, events where consulates pay tribute to things

06:16like croissants and cheese.

06:17And this concept of food power or food soft power, well, as I just said, it pays off.

06:24The French portal for economic intelligence did a report on this three years ago, and

06:28it found that gastronomy in France, it brings in over 35 billion euros, and it is the nation's

06:34fifth employment sector.

06:37It also accounts for 40% of pre-tax revenue in regard to the tourism industry.

06:42And that is just France, and it's 175,000 restaurants.

06:46It doesn't even touch on things like the billions made from wine exports, and the oh-so-many

06:51French restaurants around the world that wish diners a bon appétit.

06:55It certainly is big business and delicious business, too.

06:58Thank you so much for that, Solange Moujon, with that look.

07:01French cuisine, I always love talking about that on this show.

07:03All right, next.

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