BOCUSE D'OR 2019 PLATTER

Bocuse d'Or Team Canada 2019 revealed a platter were the presented food would be a perfect reflection of Canadian images such as "snow shoes", "pine cones", "wild game", "forest floor", "falling snow", and "icicle". This reflection was not only visual but also through taste thanks to the use of local products from our farmers including dairy, mushrooms, root vegetables, ice wine, and maple. The team worked hard on showcasing with pride Canadian wild ingredients such as caribou, winter green, wild mustard, and chaga; as well as unique cooking techniques: native bison pemmican (which is dried in the sun and packed in fat for the long winter), roasting with juniper branches, and a veal liver baked using a basket of woven material coated with clay. Although the platter represents the images of a cold winter farm, the food was kept warm sitting on stones from the Canadian Shield.

Snowy bale

Pinecone in a dog led

Veal in the barn

When preparing the platter for the Bocuse finals in January 2019, the team turned to the theme of the farm in winter when the fertile lands are covered in snow and the shape of the landscape turns into a white desert with grains of wheat piercing through reminding one that the winter is when the land recovers and that with the thaw the spring will soon be here for planting. After the Fall harvest the real work of food preservation, preparation, cooking and consumption is what brings the fruit of the land into our daily lives when it is needed most in the difficult months of Winter. The Circular tray is fabricated in gleaming white resin and rather than being flat is curved and sinuous as if shaped by the winter wind. Brass shoots of wheat break the surface and circular ramps in metal lead up like pathways to what seems like a barn in the distance which holds the main veal dish. The overall form of the platter when seen from above resembles a winter wreath decorated by the exquisite food prepared by Chef Ritchie which is inspired by traditional Canadian winter icons like pine cones, show shoes, evergreens, canoes and arbours. The bones of the veal are strategically placed to echo the silos and grain elevators that silhouette the Canadian rural landscape.

Over all the colours of the food and the platter create a festive feel associated with the welcome of the wreath. Composed of natural elements and tied together to be appended over door and hearth during the moments of the year when we come together to share the best of ourselves and of what we have grown and harvested in dishes that are memorable in their colour, uniqueness and authenticity. The menu created follows these key elements with soft and debossed white paper curved like snow banks acting as relief for the exquisite photography of the food highlighted by the illuminating and elegant line drawings that capture the key inspiration that guided the creation of each dish. The overall design strategy was to transform the water of the first platter into the snow of the second to highlight in a significant way the cycle of the seasons and its intrinsic role in shaping the role of Canadian food culture. 

This masterpiece was made possible thanks to George Brown Centre for Arts, Design & Information Technology, and Dean Luigi Ferrara's vision. ​