This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Culinary competitions abound in our immediate environment. Let us think about the broadcasts The Chiefs Or MasterChef Canada, at contests like the Best Apprentice Chef or the Canadian Culinary Championship, there is no shortage of opportunities to see professionals at work. But we often ignore the degree of investment associated with competitions which constitute the firmament of the cooking profession, starting with the Bocuse d’or, which every two years crowns one country out of twenty-four finalists from all continents. It is to this epic worthy of the Olympic Games that the documentary series The Bocuse d’Or effectto be devoured on the Vrai channel since this week, took an interest in following, from Montreal to Lyon, the steps of the last 100% Quebec team representing Canada in this prestigious competition.
Ten years. It took 10 years of immense passion, and just as much self-sacrifice, for ITHQ chef and professor Samuel Sirois to realize his lifelong dream: participating in the Bocuse d’or final. “Bocuse represents the ultimate competition. It’s impossible to imagine what it’s like until you see the thousands of people in the stands screaming like a football match. It’s crazy ! » he says from the outset in the first episode of The Bocuse d’or effecta documentary series cooked up for four years by a small team led by producer (and contributor to the Plaisirs notebook) Catherine Lefebvre and director Pascal Brouard, who has been filming the show for years Curious Begin.
The Bocuse d’or seen behind the scenes
It was Catherine who had the idea for this series. She knows Samuel well, whose partner is one of her friends. When the latter won the Canadian final of the Bocuse d’or in 2019, she had already seen for years his commitment and the personal sacrifices he and his family made to allow him to make this dream a reality.
“I told myself that this completely crazy process deserved to be better known to the general public,” explains Catherine. I wanted to show what sets this competition apart from others and the degree of investment it requires, but also to what extent such competitions promote our talents and our gastronomy throughout the world. »
Samuel Sirois and his team, made up of his clerk Léandre Legault-Vigneau and the coach Gilles Herzog, also a professor at the ITHQ, willingly agreed to take part in the filmed observation exercise which they carried out. object during the six months preceding the holding of the Bocuse d’or final in Lyon, last January. “Even though I knew that this project would be time-consuming and that it would delve into our privacy, I knew Catherine’s rigor and I was pleasantly surprised by the respect and gentleness that the film crew showed us,” says Samuel.
It actually took a lot of mutual respect to follow the Olympian preparations, both technically and physically and emotionally leading up to the competition. The five episodes of the series The Bocuse effect Golden thus reveal to us both the search for products and the meeting of mentors as well as the pitfalls encountered by the team of cooks, their moments of doubt and their stress increasing until the final.
“There were wonderful sharings of emotions during this period,” recognizes Catherine Lefebvre. That Samuel and his team were willing to have us there, pointing a camera at them when they were at times helpless and vulnerable, was a big gesture of trust. » Proof also that this documentary adventure was touching for the cooks as well as for the producers of the series, Catherine and Pascal both cried when the Quebec team competed in Lyon. “In 27 years in the business, this project is one of the greatest professional gifts I have had,” admits the director.
Push one’s limits
After two years of intensive training and two days of ultimate competition, the Canadian team finally ranked 11e rank of the Bocuse d’or ahead of teams like Japan and Belgium. Samuel Sirois is not at all disappointed with this result. “Our goal was to get as close as possible to the podium, but also to do something different, in our image,” he says.
Did the divergent visions of gastronomy and the politicking that accompany many competitions – we see this perfectly with certain events of the Olympic Games – have an impact on the final result of the competition? Without a doubt. But the main lesson that Samuel learned from it was more of a personal nature: “I think that Bocuse is more of a competition against oneself than against others. And by pushing your own limits, you become a better cook and a better human being. »
For her part, Catherine Lefebvre understood, thanks to this project, the importance that gastronomy plays in terms of cultural promotion. “I don’t understand why we don’t invest as much in our chefs as in our artists, when competitions like the Bocuse d’or showcase our skills, our products and our culinary identity,” she says before adding that Denmark has been investing in its culinary talents for 20 years and now enjoys global gastronomic fame.
A Quebecer in the final of a prestigious competition
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.