Richard McComb enters the cauldron of the world's biggest cooking competition
Walking through the vast exhibition hall, the air thick with the smell of freshly baked patisserie, glorious seafood, canapés and nervous energy, it was the two girls in Swiss national costume, hair in braids and clinking cowbells, that hinted at the madness ahead.
As we approached the competition arena, our ears were bombarded by the sound of whistles, claxons and feverishly rhythmic hand-clapping. The atmosphere was akin to a Super Bowl final and, in cooking terms, the stakes were equally high. We stepped into the maelstrom of the Bocuse D’Or, the greatest culinary show on earth.
Held every two years in Lyon, the world’s top 24 chefs gather to do battle following 18 months of international selection.
They are handed identical ingredients and invited to dazzle a panel of judges comprising industry heavyweights from the three Michelin star stratosphere.
This is the mother of all cook-offs. Forget what Masterchef’s Gregg Wallace says because cooking really doesn’t get any tougher than this.
I have come to Sirha, the gargantuan food exhibition that houses the Bocuse D’Or, with a group of leading chefs from Birmingham. The visit is part of a meeting of Délice, a network of global food cities of which Birmingham is a driving force as treasurer. The trip is designed to encourage cities to exchange ideas about gastronomy in the hope of raising standards and promoting skills and training.
The Délice meeting has been timetabled to coincide with Sirha, which acts as a showcase for the latest gadgets, techniques and trends in world food.
There are concept kitchens, endless samples, bespoke tablewear, chefs’ fashion zones and, naturally, a far amount of Champagne. In the Valrhona chocolate stand, I enjoy a light lunch and a plate of five delicious mini-desserts. It’s here that I bump into Fred Sirieix, front of house star of the recent BBC2 show Service and general manager at Galvin at Windows in London.
Sirieix worked on the programme with Michel Roux and Michel’s redoubtable father, Albert, shuffles past in the VIP enclosure.
Lyon’s grandfather of gastronomy Paul Bocuse, probably the most famous chef on the planet and the man after whom the Bocuse D’Or is named, visits specially selected stands with his entourage, extending his gastronomic patronage.
Bocuse is welcomed like a king and snapped by photographers at every corner. Sirha is that kind of event.At the official opening, 70 of the world’s most lauded chefs, all of them awarded three stars by Michelin, left their handprints in a new Hall of Fame.
The scene in the competition hall is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. Terraced seating is packed with 2,400 noisy spectators who look down on the kitchens where the chefs work under intense scrutiny. The Swedish supporters, armed with ear-splitting hooters, take the prizes for volume, their bombast drowning out the thumping electronic music relayed by the loud speakers.
Cameras relay the kitchen action on giant screens accompanied by a Eurovision Song Contest type commentary by the show’s tirelessly excitable hosts.
“Woah! Look at that monkfish! A-mazing!” says American compere Angela May, who’s working alongside a nutty Frenchman.
