Team Norway for the Bocuse d’Or with its own chef and belief in gold

In October 2021, Filip August Bendi became Chef of the Year and Norway’s candidate for Bocuse d’Or – the world’s most difficult culinary arts competition. In March last year, he and Team Norway secured bronze in the European Championships in Budapest. The team is now ready for the world finals in Lyon.

So what exactly is the difference between the European competition and the world final of the Bocuse d’Or?

– There are different qualifications on the different continents. The best countries from the regional competitions go to the WC. You can think that the European final is a test phase. What you then do is dip your toe in the water to feel the temperature. But the world final is pure death, where you have to make the jump of your life, says Bendi to NTB.

A lot to lose, in other words, if the jump ends in a total belly splash.

– I feel very good now. You have to believe in gold to take it, so I believe in gold. It helps a lot that we have good feedback and a very strong team, says the chef.

Lots of luggage

On Friday, it is ready to leave for France. On Sunday at 8 a.m., the competitions start. The last week has been spent carefully packing everything down. In addition to Norwegian raw materials, the team has, among other things, brought with them tailor-made kitchen worktops and lots of special equipment.

– There is a lot of stuff. Everything inside the kitchen is purpose-built. We get points for the way the kitchen is set up and how we move out and serve. So we have extra raw materials and a shared kitchen, for this we cannot exactly run to the store in France to buy if needed.

The teams’ tasks are to present a three-course children’s menu based on French pumpkin. They will also present a platter with sole, mussels and scallops from Scotland. Other ingredients in the menu and for the platter are from Norway. 15 times they have had drive-throughs that take 8-9 hours each time. In addition, before that they have developed and tested individual dishes and all the small elements countless times since August.

Own chef

– We also have to bring all the food we will eat ourselves. We also have our own, incredibly skilled chef who can cook anything. He makes sure it’s healthy and good, says Bendi.

The chef fed the team throughout the rehearsal period.

– But you cook all the time, don’t you? Can’t you just eat it?

– No, we taste the food we make and will have in the competition, but we have our own team meals. It is very important to eat the right food and at the right time, because it affects mood and form, and everyone must be in a stable good mood. So that’s why we have our own nutrition officer who takes care of that, says Bendi.

– What is he cooking then?

– It varies, meat, fish, vegetables, we get a lot of good food, for example we had lamb ribs with rice, mixed salad and tzatziki the other day.

Only children’s food

So how do you think, when you have to make a three-course menu for children with pumpkin in starter, main course and dessert?

– We have taken on the task with a smile, trained a lot with the French pumpkins, and thought that we must cook food where the menu and the text are also inviting and appeal to the children. If the menu looks inviting, with nice colours, it will make children want to eat. We have also ensured that no flavors are too strong or strange. It’s very difficult to know what children like, because some don’t like anything, while others eat everything, says Bendi, who is a creative developer for Thon hotels on a daily basis.

In the end, it is adults who will judge the competition, but children will be involved and hand out their own prize.

– Will this menu be something you can try at home?

– Then you must be quite a foodie! These are complex recipes and require specially made molds. We use 3d printers to create our own shapes that we have drawn ourselves. There is also a lot of other equipment that you cannot possibly get hold of. But you can get the flavors. Or you can hire me, says Bendi.