Bocuse d'Or 2009: has anyone been?

[lamington]

Hi all. I'm having a crisis of indecision about heading to the Bocuse d'Or 2009 (and other competitions) in Lyon (Jan 24-28, 2009) and the umbrella trade event, Sirha. I was surprised to find no reports from any attendees in previous years (or my search skills suck ).

Can anyone give sage advice about the experience? I've been to Lyon before, so the city itself won't be a novelty (though I do like it a lot).

Edited September 21, 2008 by lamington (log)

[Kent Wang]

Los Angeles Times article about French Laundry's Timothy Hollingsworth preparations for this year's competition.

I'm also surprised at the lack of coverage of this competition on the forums. I'd like to how widely respected the competition is world-wide.

[Christopher Haatuft]

and Norway won again! hehe...

[rjwong]

Here are the results of the Bocuse d'or 2009 (countries listed en francais):

1. Norvège (1.020 points)

2. Suède (994)

3. France (993)

4. Danemark (986)

5. Suisse (922)

6. Etats-Unis (911)

7. Islande (891)

8. Japon (877)

9. Canada (870)

10. Royaume-Uni (864)

11. Finlande (858)

12. Australie (849)

13. Pays-Bas (837)

14. République Tchèque (813)

15. Estonie (812)

16. Luxembourg (804)

17. Mexique (762)

18. Singapour (762)

19. Malaisie (757)

20. Espagne (749)

21. Brésil (698)

22. Afrique du Sud (682)

23. Uruguay (678)

24. Corée du Sud (669)

[John Talbott]

and Norway won again! hehe...

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Christopher: I think we have a lot to learn from you. Maybe instead of just cooking for the Ambassador, you should cook for us, we the "little people" in Paris. There are a couple of empty restos right now.

[Kent Wang]

It seems like the amount of effort each country puts into the contest is very uneven. The LA Times articles touches on this, explaining that European teams are better funded while US teams have to seek their own sponsorships.

[marc at fraiche]

It seems like the amount of effort each country puts into the contest is very uneven. The LA Times articles touches on this, explaining that European teams are better funded while US teams have to seek their own sponsorships.

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i think also you will find that not all european countries have the same support either, speaking for the uk funding, this was very tight for simon and little help or backing was given, and he too had to scrape funds together to meet the costs of entering

[Kent Wang]

New York Times: Norway Wins

[Christopher Haatuft]

and Norway won again! hehe...

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Christopher: I think we have a lot to learn from you. Maybe instead of just cooking for the Ambassador, you should cook for us, we the "little people" in Paris. There are a couple of empty restos right now.

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I dont know, John. We seem to win a lot of competitions, but when it comes to restaurants, Norway is not really "worth a detour". I think we do well in competitions because there is a very strong core of good cooks who organize the national team and help new, young talent. But you're right, screw the ambassador, make room in your kitchen and I'll be there

[Christopher Haatuft]

It seems like the amount of effort each country puts into the contest is very uneven. The LA Times articles touches on this, explaining that European teams are better funded while US teams have to seek their own sponsorships.

←

i think also you will find that not all european countries have the same support either, speaking for the uk funding, this was very tight for simon and little help or backing was given, and he too had to scrape funds together to meet the costs of entering

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I heard Geir Skeie from Norway had about £200000 in his budget. I dont know what specifically it was for or who it was from. But even though that was the money he had, it doesnt take away his victory.

[docsconz]

I just returned from the Bocuse, whee I accompanied the US Team taking photos for Starchefs.com. It was an experience! The second day of the competition was much more intense than the first as it had a number of the big guns with rowdy fan bases competing. After seeing the work and effort that went into the American effort, I have nothing but respect for the team and the enterprise. Though everyone was disappointed that they didn't finish higher than sixth place, the reality is that it really is a very, very good result. The Scandinavians are habitually on the podium and indeed this year three out of the top four teams were Scandinavian. I think that one of the reasons for this is that until recently in Scandinavia, haute cuisine meant classic French cooking so they have learned to do it well. In contrast, the Spanish team, lead by such heavyweights as Juan Marie Arzak, Paco Roncero and the candidate Angel Palacios who is now the chef at Madrid's highly regarded La Broche, finished well down the pack (20th) despite beautiful, but typically Spanish presentations of their meat and fish dishes. Although Arzak, Thomas Keller, Rene Redzepi and Matthias Dahlgren sat amongst the judges, for the most part the judges are more oriented towards traditional French cooking styles. That clearly hurt the Spaniards and I think the Americans as well to a degree.

In addition to the Bocuse, I was able to catch some of the Pastry Coupe du Monde, won by the French. Indeed one of the key members of that winning French team is based in Lyon with a small, but wonderful shop in Les Halles.

[prasantrin]

Does anyone know who got the awards for "Best Fish" if there is such an award? I vaguely remember hearing about such an award a number of years ago, but I might be confusing Bocuse d'Or with a different competition.

Any guesses as to why the Japanese team doesn't usually finish very high? It seems like the kind of even they would do well at, plus many Japanese chefs are trained in traditional French-style cooking. I wonder if maybe their flavour profiles are off for French palates (Japanese prefering very subtle flavours).

[docsconz]

Does anyone know who got the awards for "Best Fish" if there is such an award?  I vaguely remember hearing about such an award a number of years ago, but I might be confusing Bocuse d'Or with a different competition.

Any guesses as to why the Japanese team doesn't usually finish very high?  It seems like the kind of even they would do well at, plus many Japanese chefs are trained in traditional French-style cooking.  I wonder if maybe their flavour profiles are off for French palates (Japanese prefering very subtle flavours).

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Denmark won both Best Fish and Best Meat, yet only placed fourth overall.

The Japanese had beautiful architectural platters. All I can say not having tasted any of the plates is that the competition looked tough.

[prasantrin]

Denmark won both Best Fish and Best Meat, yet only placed fourth overall.

How does that work? Perhaps the "Best" awards are based only on quality or only on presentation, but not both?

The Japanese had beautiful architectural platters. All I can say not having tasted any of the plates is that the competition looked tough.

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I was quite surprised to see that Iceland finished 7th--above both Japan and Canada. Are they known for good food? The Icelandic food I've had in Canada (Winnipeg and environs historically have large numbers of Icelandic immigrants) hasn't been anything special. What's the fine dining scene there like, I wonder?

[docsconz]

Denmark won both Best Fish and Best Meat, yet only placed fourth overall.

How does that work? Perhaps the "Best" awards are based only on quality or only on presentation, but not both?

good question. Once they were awarded both prizes, I thought for sure that they had won. I guess the answer is that there are other elements to the total scores including timing, organization and such. Even though they might have scored best for the actual food, they must have been behind in the other areas. In addition, the teams that beat them out must have scored close to them for food as well.

The Japanese had beautiful architectural platters. All I can say not having tasted any of the plates is that the competition looked tough.

←

I was quite surprised to see that Iceland finished 7th--above both Japan and Canada. Are they known for good food? The Icelandic food I've had in Canada (Winnipeg and environs historically have large numbers of Icelandic immigrants) hasn't been anything special. What's the fine dining scene there like, I wonder?

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Iceland shares the same Scandinavian mystique would be my answer.

[docsconz]

For anyone who may be interested I have posted my first hand account of the Bocuse D'Or 2009 with photos on my blog.