Belgium 8th place at the Bocuse D’Or Gastronomy Biennial Competition

Denmark was the winner of the 17th Bocuse d’Or, a biennial gastronomical competition. A total of 24 countries completed the 5h35-long event held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Lyon. The Belgian team finish eight despite the expectations of its leader Lode De Roover. Sweden and Norway respectively won the silver and bronze medals.

“I’m not disappointed with what we did with the team, I’m disappointed with the results.I hoped to appear within the top 5,” said the young Flemish leader to news agency Belga at the time of his departure. He did not exclude the possibility to participate in a next edition.

The winner, the Danish Kenneth Toft-Hansen, who had already participated in the 2015 edition of this prestigious cooking competition, owns a hotel-restaurant, the Svinkløv Badehotel, on the northern coast of Jutland. In an interview with AFP, the president of the contest, Jerome Bocuse, had pointed as favorites “the Scandinavian countries”, “always present” and who “invest a lot in the contest.”

A prediction that was confirmed Wednesday night: a podium 100% Scandinavian, as was the case with the European final of the same competition last year, Norway in the lead. Lode De Roover acknowledged the superiority of northern candidates, “The Scandinavian countries are absolutely superior. We are fighting to try to catch up with them. In the last two years, we have really made a leap forward. In terms of method, technique, preparation, work on the dishes, we are eyeing them and we are getting closer. “