In 1987, Chef of the Century, Paul Bocuse, created the  Bocuse d’Or World Cuisine Contest, and these culinary olympics have since been held once every two years in Lyon, France, the city of Chef Bocuse’s premier restaurant, Auberge du Point de Collognes. Twenty three countries have competed to bring home the gold statue, but only four have achieved first place-France, Norway, Luxemberg, and Sweden.

It has been said that Chef Bocuse has long hoped that the USA would become the triumphant winner of this event. The legend goes that during World War II, an injured Bocuse was saved through a transfusion of  blood that had been donated by an American. It has often been reported that Bocuse has said that, from then on, he has had American blood running through his veins and that he favors our country to win the gold statue.

On January 29, 2012, the Culinary Institute of America hosted the Bocuse d’Or USA competition for our country’s four finalists. I could have traveled to the CIA on my own, but I wisely decided to accompany Lisa Mamounas of The Culinary Insiders to provide me with a wonderful behind-the-scenes take on this event.

Held in this prestigious school’s Recreation Center Gym, throngs of people came to sit on bleachers and cheer on their favorite chef and his assistant or commis.

During a five and a half hour period that started at 8:00 am, each team prepared one meat and one seafood presentation. Sixty points were allotted for each dish-forty for taste and twenty for presentation. The tension was on as each competed in their own individual kitchen area.

Although the efforts of  all four competitors were well received, the main attention appeared to be focused on favorite Richard Rosendale and his commis, Cory Seigel.

In the center of all of this intense competition were the judges, especially famous chefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller.

Jerome Bocuse, son of Paul Bocuse and another judge for the competition, announced during the day that he had a surprise for us. His father had called from France and, via Jerome’s amplified smartphone, and, in French, Paul Bocuse wished the United States well in the following world wide contest.

In the end, Rosendale was chosen as the victor and was preparing to embark on a year’s training for the Lyon competition to be held in January of 2013 with Chef Gavin Kayson as his coach.

At the end of the day, it was more than obvious that traveling with the Culinary Insiders was such a good choice.  Lisa had taken me and the other members of our group to a fabulous dinner at the CIA’s American Bounty the night before. On the day of the event, she took us behind-the-scenes to fully explain the competition and to meet chefs Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and Gavin Kayson, food purveyors, and even representatives of the James Beard Foundation.

Boulud is a member of the board of  this organization, and Lisa has held several special events at  his restaurant, Daniel, and Thomas Keller’s restaurant, Per se. I know that I wouldn’t have fully appreciated all the nuances of this competition without Lisa’s help, and I look forward to participating in other epicurean adventures with Culinary Insiders in the future.

Next: Awards festivities and the CIA’s fabulous desserts!