A fine double for France at the latest Sirha Europain show in Paris. A trio of French bakers won the Bakery World Cup for the first time in 16 years. Meanwhile, the tandem representing France took first place in the European selection for the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie.
After 16 years of purgatory, France has finally won the “Bread Olympics“, the twelfth edition of the World Bakery Championships…
The country of the baguette was regularly upstaged by other baguette virtuosos, namely the Asian countries. A shame for France, which in 2022 succeeded in having the baguette included on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list…
But this year, a trio of blue-white-and-red bakers, Xavier Sacriste, Franck Fortier and Fabien Nolay, saved the honor at the competition held in Paris during the 25th edition of Sirha Europain, the benchmark trade show for bakery-pastry and snacking. On Monday January 22, 2024, they secured the top spot on the podium, ahead of South Korea and Japan, respectively second and third in the competition…
Know-how and team spirit
Held every two years, the championship pits the world’s best bakery teams against each other. Ten teams, each comprising three competitors, compete for eight intense hours. The aim is to demonstrate both a high level of expertise and a collective spirit, as the pieces are created at the same time by the bakers, who are required to share their equipment in the same room. Four events punctuate the competition: baguette and bread of the world, viennoiserie, bakery restoration and artistic piece.
The last, the artistic piece, is obviously the most spectacular, the participants’ masterpiece… And to shine, Xavier Sacriste, in charge of its realization, was happily inspired by current sporting events, namely the Paris Olympics. Based on the constraints imposed – namely, to reach a height of between 1.40 and 1.60 m and to incorporate five different pastes – he created a sculpture representing a fencer, whose discipline is of course one of those scheduled to take place in the French capital.
The three winners, who trained for a year and a half before the competition, each supported by a coach, don’t necessarily have a classic baker’s background.
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Featured Photo: © Sirha Europain, Paris
