June 2009

"Well what do you to think about the Bocuse d'Or results?" - says the Commis to the breakfast cook.

"I'll tell you this I don't know why any other teams bother to show" - says the breakfast cook.

"How come?" says the Commis leaning on his spatula.

"Well don't you see it's those French and those Norwegians, they have the thing sown up, it's in their back pocket from the get go, no one else can get a look in" - says the breakfast cook as he cracks a double yoker.

"See look what just dropped - when will that happen again?"

"Like I said, fat chance anyone has of winning against those two."

From the mid 1980's through the mid 1990's the IKA and other international salons were dominated by Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Singapore.

These teams had none to challenge them and they owned the podium. Then the pendulum swung and the crowns and the laurels were claimed by other nations.

So it will come to be with that biannual culinary extravaganza in Lyons.

Some say that the Bocuse d'Or has little relevance in today's challenging business environment. Likely it is these same naysayers who decry the Michelin Guide and its endorsements.

The Bocuse d'Or and The Michelin Guide are measures of achievement. The ideals they set are high.

Perhaps many will attempt more that they can achieve but no one will ever achieve much whose reach does not exceed his grasp.

So who will dethrone the great French and Norwegian chefs? Believe it; the pendulum will also swing in Lyons as it did in Frankfurt and Erfurt.

I once won a lot of money at the Galway races. Were I still a betting man I would look to the future say two to four years hence.

I can see a young chef who was on a Junior National Team this last October in Erfurt. Let's propose from either the successful American or Swiss Nation teams.

This young chef would need to be bloodied and seasoned in further competitions under the tutelage of a veteran chef who has walked the walk. The Master will hone the young chef's skills and teach him necessary strategies and imbue in him the discipline of focus.

However a receipt for failure occurs when a talented young chef is overcome by a grand entourage of well meaning followers with a retinue of star studded chefs serving up their life's experience of knowledge "jusqu'à la dernière goutte."

Vive La France vive Le Norway. Bring on the Challengers.

June 2009

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