The FIFA World Cup is over, but an event that’s essentially the World Cup of cuisine is about to begin in New Orleans.
There are two related global culinary competitions called Bocuse d'Or and Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie (a.k.a. the Pastry World Cup), and they’re held in such prestige that for chefs it really is like striving for a global championship.
They stoke the same pride and passion.
Reputations are minted in their winners’ circles.
The finals for both are held every other year in Lyon, France, regarded as the gastronomic capital of that food obsessed country.
Like sporting world cups, these competitions each have qualifying rounds to get there, and once again the road to the finals runs through New Orleans for national teams from South America and North America, including Team USA.
These Americas qualifying rounds all happen this weekend, July 25 and 26, when the New Orleans convention center becomes a stadium-style competition kitchen. It’s held in conjunction with the Louisiana Restaurant Association’s annual trade show at the convention center, and so people who work in the hospitality sector can attend the competitions too.
No ordinary cooking contest, the dishes created in these competitions are one-of-a-kind works of culinary art. Dessert platters might fill entire tables and can resemble life-sized sculptures rendered in chocolate and sugar. Savory dishes are intricate as jewelry displays, but must also taste as good as they look.
Competing chefs are chosen through trials and testing. They spend months away from their restaurant jobs training with assistants and coaches on everything from technique to managing their kitchen space. Only a few will advance to France for the finals.
New Orleans is the only U.S. city to ever host these events. It will turn New Orleans into a world hub for one stripe of cuisine at its most intricate and competitive. That’s a signal on an international level underscoring New Orleans as a culinary destination, and that’s already a win for the city’s hospitality scene and food culture.
