about Bocuse d'Or Canada

CCFCC Bocuse d’Or Canada is a program administered and managed by The Canadian Culinary Federation (CCF) in part to engage Canadian chefs in international culinary competition but also as an endeavor to promote the art of cuisine and the profession of the Chef.

The objective of The Canadian Culinary Federation is to unite chefs and cooks across Canada in a common commitment to professional excellence. Since its inception in 1963, the Federation has enjoyed a deep and long-standing tradition as Canada's true representation of the professional chef and cook. Membership in the Canadian Culinary Federation is available to all individuals involved in the culinary arts as a Cook Apprentice, Journeyman Cook, Professional Chef/Cook or Culinary Professional. It would be appropriate to say that over the past two decades Canadian cuisine has come of age. Our culinary training and instruction is now among the best on the globe. Our country has nurtured and encouraged exceptional culinary talent from coast-to-coast, as made evident by the growing number of truly superior chefs and dining establishments. CCFCC Bocuse d’Or Canada is working actively to achieve three goals in broad support of our competitive effort: to showcase our extraordinary chefs globally, to promote the exceptional agri-food products of Canada and to garner the support of Canadians as we compete on the world stage. We have participated in every Bocuse d’Or competition since it began in 1987, have sent our very best talent to Lyon and have enjoyed remarkable success.

All dreams are accompanied by sacrifice and expense, and ours is no different. The s effort is built upon the thousands of hours freely given by professionals and amateurs alike who are passionate about our goals and who are driven to help us achieve them. The expenses associated with training the Canadian candidate, with taking the Canadian team to Lyon, and for the materials necessary to stock and equip the competition kitchen, are significant. Over the next several years, we hope to raise sufficient sponsorship dollars and be able to work with our partners to accomplish two long-term objectives: to allow our Canadian candidates to devote themselves entirely to training and the perfection of their entries, and also to create a legacy fund that will allow the best of young Canadian culinary talent to be nurtured, trained and prepared for world class competition.

OVERVIEW OF THE COMPETITION

Nowhere else in the world of culinary arts will you find such a concentration of talent, competitive rivalry and exquisite cookery than at the ‘Bocuse d'Or’. This is the most prestigious culinary competition in the world, a showcase for the talents of chefs who represent twenty four countries in an intense, highly charged and extremely noisy atmosphere. The competition takes place over two days in conjunction with SIRHA, the International Hotel Catering & Food Trade Exhibition and attracts over 160,000 visitors from around the world.

History

The Bocuse d'Or was founded in 1987 by legendary French Chef, Paul Bocuse and Albert Romain, organizer of the trade exhibition. Their vision was to create a competition that would bring the greatest chefs out from behind closed doors and onto the world stage. They wanted to share the atmosphere and life of a great kitchen and give an international audience the opportunity to see these great chefs at work.

Qualifying Competition

Each chef may participate only after winning a qualifying competition in their own country, meaning that only the very best gather in Lyon for the biennial contest. To represent Canada, the candidate must go through an intensive selection process which takes place every two years. Firstly, applications, accompanying recipes, resumes and letters of reference are reviewed by a panel of professional judges, the top candidates are then invited to a cook-off to win the right to represent Canada at the Bocuse d’Or.

Participating Countries

Every participating country sends one chef and their apprentice, who must be 22 years of age or younger, and a judge. The following countries competed in 2009: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Luxemburg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America, Uruguay.

Requirements

Each chef has five and a half hours to prepare one meat dish and one fish dish. Both platters must be presented with a free choice of three different garnishes and must contain a total of twelve servings. Two portions are plated for presentation and for the official photograph.

Ingredients/Equipment

On the day of the event each chef is allotted a fully equipped 18m2 kitchen cubicle, twelve of which are set up side by side, opening on to a space reserved for the jury, members of the press and a gallery packed with cheering supporters. The chef provides the serving platters, all specialized cooking equipment and all of the food ingredients, with the exception of the designated meat and fish items, which are different for every competition.

Scoring

Each competing country has one representative on the jury. Every competitor has the potential to score 40 points for taste and 20 points for presentation for each of the two dishes, before being tabulated the highest and lowest marks are removed. In addition, the Kitchen Supervision Committee gives competitors up to 20 additional points for hygiene and cleanliness; these points are added to a competitor's total in the event of a tie. The winner is the competitor with the highest overall score.

Awards

A gold, silver and bronze Bocuse trophy and cash prizes are awarded to the top three competitors. The Gold Bocuse winner receives 20,000 Euros; the Silver Bocuse winner receives 15,000 Euros; and the Bronze Bocuse winner receives 10,000 Euros. In addition, prizes are awarded for the best fish and best meat dishes (outside of the top three places), best apprentice and best poster. The Bocuse d’Or trophy was designed by Christine Delessert and features Paul Bocuse standing on top of the world. On the day following the competition the three winners meet at Paul Bocuse’s restaurant in Collonges where plaques engraved with their names are fixed at the entrance to the restaurant.