New Orleans is home to a multitude of local restaurants and chefs are rewarded each year by the James Beard Foundation
Biennial world chef championship Bocuse d’Or is set to make its debut in the United States of America at New Orleans, the largest city in Louisiana.
According to a press statement by the New Orleans & Company, the tourism promotion organisation of the city, the arrival of the event is a doubly original selection as it is also the first participation of Venezuela alongside 11 other teams from all over North and South America.
The statement adds that traditional Louisianan products are to be used for the platter theme in the presence of President Emeril Lagasse, recognised for his mastery of New Orleans gastronomy, and Jeffery Hayashi, President of the Jury and Bocuse d’Or Americas 2022. The tourism organisation says that the theme on a plate for the contest will be revealed in April.
The statement adds that New Orleans in Louisiana is a region renowned for its rich and varied culinary heritage, perfectly reflecting the diversity of its history and culture. This is borne out by its specialties such as gumbo, a traditional soup inherited from Creole cooking, and po boy, a typical Louisianan sandwich made with seafoods or chicken.
New Orleans is home to a multitude of local restaurants and chefs are rewarded each year by the James Beard Foundation, with one of the most prestigious culinary awards in the US. New Orleans has also bagged the “Best Food Destination in the US” award by Tripadvisor in the framework of its 2023 Travellers’ Choice Awards, adds the statement.
It says that 12 candidates are going to be competing for one of the five places for the Grand Finale, judged by chefs such as Jeffery Hayashi, President of the Jury and Bocuse d’Or Americas 2022, Gavin Kaysen, President of the Continental Organising Committee, Emeril Lagasse, President and one of Louisiana’s leading chefs and Mathew Peters, the only American to win the Bocuse d’Or, in 2017.
The statement adds that the twelve teams will have five and a half hours to complete the Bocuse d’Or’s two iconic tests, namely the theme on a plate and the platter theme. The last one has just been revealed to the participants and, as for each continental selection, it highlights the host region’s local and emblematic products. The candidates will have to prepare wild boar rack, alligator sausage and grits.
According to the statement by the organisers, the 2024 selection is marked by the first participation from Venezuela and the second participation of the team from Ecuador which also took part in the 2021 Grand Finale.
Both of them, as the 10 other competing countries, intend to defend their vision of contemporary gastronomy in order to secure one of the five places for the Grand Finale which will be held during culinary event Sirha Lyon on January 26 and 27, 2025.
