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.
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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.