# The Bocuse d’Or 2011 - What's the importance to you as professional chef?



## tomdchef (Jan 23, 2011)

Every two years, one of the biggest and most prestigious events in the culinary world takes place in Lyon, France. This is the Bocuse d'Or, an international cooking event named after its founder, the great Chef Paul Bocuse. This culinary competition is being participated by 24 chefs who came from 24 different countries, each cooking his own special recipe based on a prearranged set of parameters in the hopes of winning the grandest title in the culinary world.

As a professional chef, what is the importance of events like this to your profession and as an individual?


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## prairiechef (May 22, 2010)

It's completely irrelevant to me, my career, and the day to day needs of 99.9% of the world's culinary customers.

Yes, I am sure it's the "biggest day ever" to the participants... but for the rest of us, we got mouths to feed, staff to pay, suppliers to worry about, and the results of the Bocuse d'Or don't mean jack squat to us.

Hey, you asked.

To the participants, I say "good for you" I hope you have a grand time. But I see it as the same as the Oscars, or Grammys. An industry event, put on on by the industy, for the industry, so they feel important and special.

If there were no "awards" how would society's well-heeled know where to eat to set themselves apart from the riff-raff?


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Don't want to get on a downer here, but all it means to me is Paul-tics.

You need a lot of money and a lot of friends to even think about entering, and both money and friends need re-paying.

The cooking side of things is interesting, but that's just cooking.  Like I said, it takes a lot of effort to get in to such competitions--like several years worth of effort.


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## ljokjel (Jul 1, 2009)

Does have some influence, mostly indirectly.

Im Norwegian, and compared to the US, the ratio of National Team chefs and Bocuseparticipants is different and to our advantage.

We're also the mostwinning nation after france, so we do have a couple of chefs to look up to. Its not too hard getting a job working under a bocuse participant or someone with time in international competitions.

Inspiration, pushing the level of the industry and easier access for us younger chefs to the higher levels and places and people to learn from.


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## trooper (Jan 21, 2011)

Anything that promotes and inspires culinary excellence is a good thing.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Competitions are a bone of contention with me. I see them as a waste of energies and time in the big scheme of things. They do not contribute to the day to day work that line cooks or executive Chefs do. They are purely for the competitive spirit and add in the bloating of the ego.

I feel the same way about "Top Chef" and "Chopped" and all the rest of the garbage on the food network.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I think they can contribute a lot if you're a garde manger and they can even be trendy.  I remember when team USA first used chaud-froid on the bottom of their platters.  We all started doing it for our buffets.  Pretty neatl but it soon gave way to the absolutely spotless plate.  If you've ever been to a competition you'll see the absolute level of detail that goes into the preparation.  It's all technique, mise, and in the team competition, teamwork.


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## ljokjel (Jul 1, 2009)

Well hooray.

We got third place, and scandinavia top 3.
Though something tells me its not as much prestige in it in other parts of the world.


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## trooper (Jan 21, 2011)

ljokjel said:


> Well hooray.
> 
> We got third place, and scandinavia top 3.
> Though something tells me its not as much prestige in it in other parts of the world.


No - I think that is a great accomplishment. And in spite of what envy or distain a person may have for the competitive event - A person that has the stones to compete in such an event, and risk any defeat, humiliation or victory - To me - is someone I want to work with.

Someone who has talent is hard to find. Someone with passion is hard to find. If you have talent and passion - you are number one on the call list in my book.

So just for the record: I know I am not fast enough or probably talented enough to even place in a competition like that. You made third place.

That's a great accomplishment! You should be humble God gave you such awesome talent and everyone else should be proud of you for not wasting it.


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## cbradford (Jan 24, 2011)

I have to say....I find it completely unimportant. I'm happy for the folk who get to participate, though. I'm sure it's a great experience for them.


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## chef blogdigest (Jan 22, 2011)

ljokjel said:


> Well hooray.
> 
> We got third place, and scandinavia top 3.
> Though something tells me its not as much prestige in it in other parts of the world.


Congratulations! it's a good start buddy! Many more challenges in the culinary world. Keep on pursuing things that is likable to you and the more you do the more positive things will happen. Have a nice day.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

[h1]On Team USA Losing at the Bocuse d'Or[/h1]
http://eater.com/archives/2011/01/27/on-losing-the-bocuse-dor.php


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## trooper (Jan 21, 2011)

Poo Poo !


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

well, i gotta say that Bocuse D'or is so totally beyond my everyday realm of thinking, actually, my life thinking...i never think of it, just as i don't think of miss u.s.a. or miss universe pageants either. i'm not even really sure i completely understand the whole concept...is it a scholarship fundraiser for future culinarians, or is to determine the best chef? best chefs in one country? well, whose the best artist, the best musician, the best singer?...i am of the thinking that there is no one 'best', just different styles...it also seems to me that it's an expensive competition, just as the olympics are....you need sponsors to pay your bills while you train,which could be years, buy the equipment you need, food, travel expenses etc. so, in that regard, it is the sponsored contestants who can enter, not necessarily the most talented. why do chefs need time off work and all bills paid to 'train"? train for what?.. i do not understand. i do believe that competition can be a good thing. it hones your skills, keeps you focused and for those of us who need a new challenge, offers that. any selfish self promotion or 'bloating of ego' is very short lived as it very hard work, demanding and stressful....there is, in my opinion, a big difference between cockiness and being self assured... as to what it does for the industry as a whole, i'm not sure....if i was handed a ticket to go i would go, just to feel the buzz in the air......i did see a few photos of the u.s.a. entry...BORING!!! man, hope they didn't spend too many months training for that!.....will think on it some more, but that's my chime for now..

joey


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I don't know about Bocuse d'Or judging, and without looking at the judging sheet one may never know.  In ACF competition they are judged on everything, and I mean EVERYTHING!  You get your mise en place wrong it's minus one point.  You forget to sanitize your cutting board it's another point.  You use less of an ingredient or forget a part of the plate, that's points too.

If the US wanted to win at Bocuse d'Or they could have picked someone with a few gold medals already or just picked someone from last year's Kochkunst team.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Unlike The Bocus in ACF competiton, you are competing against yourself and some pre-ordained set of rules.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

Because I'm not a working chef, not even a professional cook, anymore, I've been staying away from this thread. But several of us have picked it up privately, and they've encouraged me to post my views---mostly, I think, because they're different from what most of you have expressed. 



First off, the pursuit of excellence is a laudable goal in its own right. Doesn't matter what the field is. Advances are made when talented people push the envelope. If nothing else, that makes the Bocuse d'Or worthwhile. No, most of us will never take part. But it's surely good to know it exists. And, it should go without saying, that's I'd love to be in the audience.



 Putting that aside, however, do you guys really believe there's no trickle-down effect? That the techniques and methodologies and uses of ingredients developed for competitions like that don't impact on what you'll be doing in the future? Must be that trends in the culinary arts just appear, magically, out of thin air?



I'm put in mind of that great scene in The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep's soon to be assistant has made a comment to the effect that the world of haute culture has nothing to do with what she wears. At the time she;s wearing a blue blouse on that came from a big box discount store.



 Meryl goes through this great soliloquy, tracing the "blue blouse" the girl is wearing back to it's introduction by a top-name designer as something else two years previously. No, the girl didn't have any direct relationship with the Parisian fashion scene. But the genesis of her blouse began there. 



So, too, with the Bocuse d'Or. Most of us have no direct relationship with it, and never will. But the indirect effects are there. Like it or not, we are all cooking with blue blouses, whether we recognize it or not. 



 No, it's not about participating in the competition for most cooks and chefs. It's about the innovations and inspiration that, eventually, we'll all be using in a much diluted form, that ties us to the contest.


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

trickle down effect? perhaps...okay, definately yes, but to what degree? and on a day to day basis?... take sous vide, for example..do you go to places that cook that way? i don't know anyone who uses that method in their restaurant, and personally i'm not sure i would even go to a place and pay good hard earned denero for food cooked in that fashion....i like my food grilled and colorful and crusty where it should be, roasted, browned,sauteed to perfection, and above all else, i like to smell it cooking...not in a bag being boiled....so, for food application, i'm not interested...however, i do think it has its place...hospitals, supermarkets, hotels.....so what trend do we have to look forward to from this years' award winners? look what happened to molecular gastonomy.....i just really don't think it caught on, atleast not around where i live...its cattlemen and ranchers...you can just picture what they think when told that their steak is now in the form of foam...or boiled in a bag, because of the bocuse d'or winners are trendsetters...sorry for the ramble...things just keep popping up..

joey


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

I'm not going to argue the point, Joey. There's no way you can pinpoint, at a specific time and place, how the bocuse affected what you do or don't do, or how long it took to get there. And, unless one spends a lot of time doing the research, it's difficult at best to identify where a blue blouse came from, and what its original form was like.

Iit's not important whether I patronage restaurants that cook sous vide, or use molecular gastronomy, or follow any other trend. The point is, those things do trickle down, sometimes unencumbered, sometimes greatly diluted. And sometimes, as with Meryl Streeps young apprentice, we don't even know that it happened.

Keep in mind, too, that a particular technique which becomes popular may not originate there, but, because it's used by the top competitors it enters the culinary imagination on a greater scale.

For instance, wrapping a protein inside a protein inside a protein (I forget the name of that approach) certainly isn't new. But the widespread recognition and availability of turducken can be traced, indirectly, to the bocuse. Did you ever even hear of a turducken as recently as, say,  five years ago? Probably not. And you've just as probably never made or served one in your restaurant. But that doesn't change the fact that the concept is "in the air," and everybody at least knows what it is.

Would that have happened without the Bocuse d'Or?


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

I'm really interested in that _"trickle-down effect"_ too (as taken from _"Reaganomics"_ vocabulary), in any way that gets me paid more.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

IceMan said:


> I'm really interested in that _"trickle-down effect"_ too (as taken from _"Reaganomics"_ vocabulary), in any way that gets me paid more.


Strike "gets me paid" and replace with "lets me earn" and you have my vote.

IMHO, anyone who "gets paid" should find a new career that "lets them earn", there's far more to life than a "paycheck".

BTAWTHDIK


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

I agree with KY  The competition does cost a small fortune to get to equipment, food and all, it does however educate and has a trickle down effect ,that makes things better. All the equipment we use in modern kithchens has been the result of trickle down from equipment before we already had  that was improved and that is still going forward and I for one hope it does not stop. When I got into this business we would cook prime ribs at 450'' about 40 minutes packed with salt. Now I put it in a combi oven or alto sham and have 25% less shrinkage and a nicer looking product.  The customer gets a better end result, and It makes me look better .Sometime it's called progress and every industry needs it. Many times things come out of competitions by accident., but then the frozen food  industry was an accident started by  by Mr. Birdeye.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

_*"lets me earn"*_

LOL. What a cool phrase. I remember that being said a hundred or so times in the _"Sopranos"_ TV show.

On another idea, can you please educate us(me) on the definition of your acronym *"BTAWTHDIK". TIA *for your response.

_(You can PM it to me if it's not PC for board posting. LOL @ Me.)_


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

point well taken, mon ami....but i have actually known about turducken for much longer than 5 years... i believe the 'ballotine' method has been around for quite awhile.

joey


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Oh I admit, there is a trickle down effect, but as some else here posted, "to what degree?".

Never been to a Bocuse d'Or competition, but I have been to several  Salon Culinaire in Basel, Switzerland, and in Singapore.  Matter of fact I worked in a hotel in S'pore where one of the major European teams had rented one of our kitchens for the salon.  My impressions?  Some very nice stuff, actually heartbreakingly wonderfull stuff, but done by a team with obvious talent and skills to spend over an hour on one or two garnishes per person.  And a lot of beautifull stuff--produce, meats, specialty stuff, etc, all donated or bought at cost by various suporters.

So for me, I differentiate the thinking and logic between a competitor's offering, and that of a "regular" Chef's offering on a menu: 

The competitor is out for only one thing: To win--never mind the cost. 

The regular Chef is watching and thinking: "Yeah, looks/tastes fantastic, but how do I make a buck with something like that, or failing that, how do I save a buck?"


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

For me it holds little to no importance.  I'm not a huge fan of competitions, but for those who enter it is a big thing. 

Turducken.. I first heard of that about ten or so years ago, and at the time I was still a stay home mom who had a huge interest in cooking.  I contemplated making one for my inlaws for Thanksgiving one year but in the end I decided against it as it was too much meat, even for them and they're all huge meat eaters.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

_i believe the 'ballotine' method _

Yeah, that's the word, Joey. Thanks.

Don't know why but I always blank out on it.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

John Madden made the Turducken a household word.  Way way back around the late 1990's I think is when I think he introduced the Turducken at a Thanksgiving football game.

As for trickle down, these meetings are a gathering of chefs, and there's no where else in the world where ideas and inspiration run as deep as at a chefs' meeting.  At the Kochkunst each team presents a menu which showcases their nation.  It's a great way to introduce regional foods to the rest of the world.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

IceMan said:


> ...On another idea, can you please educate us(me) on the definition of your acronym *"BTAWTHDIK". TIA *for your response.
> _(You can PM it to me if it's not PC for board posting. LOL @ Me.)_


BTWTHDIK = *B*ut *T*hen *W*hat *T*he *H*3ll *D*o *I K*now!


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

_*TY *_*(Thank You)*

Now as for _"Turducken". _On holidays throughout the year I work with a few food-pantry and/or shelter kitchens making dinners for those who are not so well off. A couple-three years ago we got a large donation of some serious poundage of different boneless fowl. We made a whole bunch of what you could call turducken. We had a lot of fun with that. We started by pounding the bageebies out of every big piece we had, making some really nice "cutlets", as it was. We layered these with stuffing/dressing and rolled them into big logs like poultry braciole. Roasted them up then went at them with electric knives. It was beautiful. Now I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'. It was/is like an over-the-top version of the TV show _"Chopped"_. We make the best we can from whatever we're given. Those turducken's were fantastic. I'm not sure that what I did then or still do today comes from the _Bocuse d'Or _as much as it does from peasant history and/or military experiences.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

While I do understand the competitive spirit issue as well as the tickle down effect, I still don't understand the reasons why creating a food display or plate within a given time period as being a contributing factor to ones abilities.

Each and every day Chefs and their team have an time factor in their Mise en Place to get the menu items ready of service. Even Garde Manger Chefs have a certain amount of time to get ready for say, Sunday Brunch or a Pastry Chef for a wedding cake. Most of the time these people have help in the prep with chopping, slicing dicing, etc....

I don't see how this prowess makes a Chef better than another. This is all subjective and the judges are opinionated from the start. 

I watch Top Chef on TV and am ready to put my foot through the screen, I get so worked up. The downright gaul of some of those (Chef's) to judge another's work is beyond me.

"This sauce has no flavor or that plate doesn't have enough color or this presentation is all wrong." According to whom? Them? Remember one thing and one thing only, that these competitions are all about ego and nothing more.

I'll step down now.....Thank you...


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## trooper (Jan 21, 2011)

Quote:


durangojo said:


> trickle down effect? perhaps...okay, definately yes, but to what degree? and on a day to day basis?... take sous vide, for example..do you go to places that cook that way? i don't know anyone who uses that method in their restaurant, and personally i'm not sure i would even go to a place and pay good hard earned denero for food cooked in that fashion....i like my food grilled and colorful and crusty where it should be, roasted, browned,sauteed to perfection, and above all else, i like to smell it cooking...not in a bag being boiled....so, for food application, i'm not interested...however, i do think it has its place...hospitals, supermarkets, hotels.....so what trend do we have to look forward to from this years' award winners? look what happened to molecular gastonomy.....i just really don't think it caught on, atleast not around where i live...its cattlemen and ranchers...you can just picture what they think when told that their steak is now in the form of foam...or boiled in a bag, because of the bocuse d'or winners are trendsetters...sorry for the ramble...things just keep popping up..
> 
> joey


I work in several places that sous vide. A little thyme, butter and a tiny bit of salt - In the dunk tank for an hour is all it takes. The nice thing is it doesn't take more than seven minutes from bag to sear to pass. You get a much better product to the customer, it really takes up a lot less space and you can keep extra portions ready in the walk-in without waste if you don't need them. Sous Vide is a great thing, not a trendy thing. Just have to have the right equipment (CryoVac and Controlled Immersion heater). With all due respect, Chef, I had my doubts about it too - But it makes cycle time faster on the line, prep easier, less loss/waste, it's a win-win.

You will probably get mad when you see people wsting Cryo Bags or using them as piping bags - but short of that you will love it. I promise! I'll bet you three days stage in your kitchen that you'll like it if you try it!

Green Eggs and Ham, Chef -- It's just like Green Eggs and Ham.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Sous vide is kinda funny, and it's invention and populairty has nothing to do with competitions.

If I understand correctly, the germ of the Sous vide idea started when a higher-end "working" Chef was looking for a way to poach his foi gras with a minimum of weight loss.  He approached a plastic mnfctr, Cryo-vac, I think, in the 70's and they helped him with this process.  The plasic bag guys weren't dull and knew there was more money in volume than in high end dining.  Sous vide was popular in institutions (hospitals, jails, etc)  This system was known as the "Nacka" system in most parts of Europe back in the 80's.

A lot of the Euopean chains like Movenpick in Switz. and Germany used it, and Fauchon (France) used it as well for "idiot-proof" a'la carte dishes starting back in the '80's.  Never really was high end stuff though.

When the meat packing boys found out they could fob off moisture and wieght loss on the consumer by vacuum packing, ie "Boxed beef", the vacuum packer and the bags became cheaper and more popular. 

The bags are still expensive, the technology much cheaper.  I remember when a packer cost over 8 grand, required 3 ph 220 V, and you had to change the oil and filter regularily, or the kitchen would fill up with smoke............


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

trooper said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> durangojo said:
> ...


green eggs...sounds yummy....not!

joey


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## 5corners (Mar 15, 2011)

Competitions are a learning experience, and take you beyond your day in and day out kitchen duties.  I've progressed and built more confidence as a "Cook", just by doing so. If I don't win, it only makes me want to do more to better myself. Also, you really know you love your job if you enter a Culinairy Salon (Cold Show)...


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Have to agree with Chef Ross re judging food on TV. I have seen people who were really good get chopped because of their attitudes or the way they answered the judges. Are they judging the food or the people???  Their is 1 particular judge who shows up whom I had the displeasure of working with(I won't mention name) who is a drunk and could not get arrested He got to where he was by dating and bedding a prominent food critic for a prominent newspaper.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

One thing you're overlooking is that contests on TV are not about the food, per se. They're about two things:

1. Being good television---which, almost always, means coping with unrealistic situations against a clock.

2. Playing to the biases of the judges.

That last is, of course, true about all contests, not just those dealing with food. Years back I won a photo contest with a shot of my first son being born. Keep in mind that cameras in the delivery room, common today, were all but unknown back then. So much so that I sold those pix to doctors and medical magazines. So, on one hand, the image, itself, was dramatic and important. But the camera club I was in at the time also knew the judge, and that he was biased in favor of children and large images. So, was it merely the image that won the contest? Or the fact it was a 16 x 20 print of a child?

Chopped, in terms of judging, is an absolute joke, that not only reflects the biases of the judges, but the fact that they are incapable of consistent judging criteria. How come, for instance, one contestent who doesn't complete his plate is forgiven, and the next one is chopped for the same reason? And it's not like the biases are secret. We know, for instance, that if you're a woman chef you better be at least twice as good as the men you're competing against, or you will be chopped. And we know that if Scott Conant is judging you had, if you expect to win, never use raw red onions (and be gentle with the cooked ones); never use black pepper; and never, ever combine cheese with any seafood. And so forth.

Let's also keep in mind that virtually all TV food contests are based on the last-man-standing approach. Every chef, no matter how good he or she may be, has an off day. If that happens during a contest, you're gone---despite the fact you might, overall, be better than everybody else. Think of the Iron Chef season in which Michael Symon was the winner. Nothing against him---he's one of my favorite chefs, in fact---but does anyone really believe he's a better chef than the other competitors? Especially when they were down to the last five or six?

Ultimately, you don't have to win any of these contests. You just don't have to lose. Take Top Chef as an example. It's quite possible that you can play it safe, never win nor lose each week, and thereby wind up in the top four. If you then whip out your big guns, you can walk away with all the marbles.

What contests can do, however, is serve as inspiration for our own cooking endeavers. We watch what the contestents do, and react by saying, "what a great idea," or "If I were doing that I'd......," and so on. That's where the trickle-down effect comes in.

While we hate to admit it, and never do when strangers are around, the restaurant scene in any community---be in New York or a small town in Montana---is very incestuous. As soon as one chef starts doing something successfully it quickly becomes the in thing in that community. So, to bring it home, if one top-ranked chef is inspired by the Bocuse d'Or, pretty soon everybody around him/her is similarly inspired, even if they don't know the source.


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