Joe Ray

February 2, 2005 - The Montreal Gazette

LYON, France - With waves of noise from air horns, trumpets, stomping feet and screaming fans, it had all the markings of a wild, five-day hockey game.

Au contraire.
Supporters from dozens of countries came to this hotbed of cuisine late last month to cheer for their teams in three of the biggest food competitions in the world: the first-ever International Caseus Award for cheesemongers, the World Pastry Cup, and one of the prestigious Bocuse d’Or awards for chefs.

Canada was represented in all three competitions, and though our teams fared very well, the exchange among contestants was often more important than the contest itself.

At the Caseus Award, Claudine Laverdure and Yannick Achim, who divide their time between Yannick Fromagerie d’Exception in Outremont, and Fromagerie du Marche and Les Etals Fromagerie in St. Jerome, represented Canada. The duo placed a very respectable fourth out of 12 competitors, even beating out the French home team.

“It’s an extraordinary experience and exchange,” said Achim in an interview during the event. “In Quebec there are very few market cheesemongers. This gives us a sense of where we fit in in the world.”

“You’ve got to travel to understand certain cheeses,” added Laverdure. “In Belgium, I learned how little I knew.” That said, Laverdure has been working with cheese for 14 years.

The competition’s tests included selling, cheese cutting, a blind tasting and a multiple-choice test. To kick off the contest, each team cleverly crammed its best cheeses into and on top of a five-foot counter.

For the cutting contest, one team member must divide a 40-kilo wheel of Comte into 47 wedges of three specified weights.

While Laverdure artfully carved up the Comte, Achim submitted to the blind tasting. At one point he looked absolutely stumped. “I think I got five out of six,” he said, “but it was a salty blue one that threw me off.”

Laverdure was also tasked with the sales presentation, in which four judges go from one team to the next, posing as clients looking for a cheese platter for a dinner party of 15, with kids. At one point in the scenario, a judge burst in saying she was double-parked and needed her cheese pronto.

The contest is a bit quirky, but Laverdure and Achim took it all in stride, looking at the bigger picture.

“In Quebec, cheesemongers aren’t very well known,” Achim said. “This allows us to show how much we know and get known around the world.”

Over at the Pastry Cup, Team Canada was made up of Ottawa’s Laurent Pages, and Montrealers Christophe Morel of Choco Z and Vi Minh Tran of Patisserie de la Gascogne.

Hans Mathys, longtime owner and baker at Boulangerie-Patisserie Dagobert in Boisbriand, was taking advantage of his retirement to preside over Canada’s team.

“This is a beautiful experience - we’re surrounded by the creme de la creme here,” he said. “The competition was at an amazingly high level.” Canada placed ninth out of 19 teams, with France, bien sur, taking first.

At the Bocuse d’Or, everything is bumped up a notch. The competition is intense and most interviews take place by shouting over the din in the Eurexpo trade-show centre in Lyon.

Representing Canada was Morgan Wilson of the Marriott Pinnacle in Vancouver.

“It’s larger than life,” a slightly humbled Wilson said. “Canada always wants to be part of the international community and we like to share our cuisine with the world. I’m just carrying on the tradition.”

Michael Noble of Calgary, a former competitor and now Canadian Bocuse judge, explained how demanding the competition can be.

“The style changes every two years,” he reflected. “Sometimes you’ll see people copying what you saw two years ago, but these aren’t the people who are going to win.”

In this contest named for one of France’s most legendary chefs, Paul Bocuse, contestants are judged on both the taste of their dishes and presentation.

Spain’s elaborate garnishes arrived for plating encased in a great glass egg. France used a manicured garden theme, placing their monkfish on a decorative grill of vines.

Again, France went to take first place, followed closely by Norway and Denmark.

Along with a truffled veal dish, Wilson charmed the judges with what he called “monkfish coast-to-coast” - a terrine of monkfish with scallop and lobster mousse and a provencal mussel sauce - and placed a very respectable eighth out of 24.

In the stands, the heir to Wilson’s throne was already preparing for the next Bocuse, in 2007. Scott Jaeger from the PearTree Restaurant in Burnaby, B.C., seemed to sum up the spirit of all three competitions.

“In the industry, this is the place to be,” he said over the roar of the crowd. “This is the best of the best.”