A pastry cooking competition for creative minds

Ever since the start of the lockdown, our teaching staff have been offering our students entertaining online challenges by organising regular culinary or table decoration competitions. The latest in the series is a pastry cooking challenge showcasing strawberries in their various forms.

The teaching and learning approach at Institut Paul Bocuse is fundamentally experiential. Throughout the year, numerous projects and challenges are organised to reveal and further develop the creative streak of our students. During the lockdown, however, this approach has been more than ever a part of the students’ learning experience, as illustrated by this recent pastry cooking challenge.

Creating a culinary masterpiece with strawberries

With the arrival of springtime, the strawberry season is at its height offering a range of varieties, such as Gariguettes, Maestro, Charlottes or Mara des Bois … The teaching staff at Institut Paul Bocuse therefore decided to ask students on the Bachelor’s in International Culinary Arts Management to  create a dish at home using strawberries as the main ingredient. Students were also asked to pay great attention to the way the dish was presented, since a photo would be taken of it. To spice up the competition a little, our pastry chef trainers also took part under anonymous cover, thus offering an extra stimulus to our students. The 3 most ‘liked’ dishes were then presented to a final jury for the election of the best culinary creation. Congratulations to Dalal Hankir, a Year 3 Culinary Arts student who was awarded the first prize of a private pastry lesson with one of our pastry chefs! 

A preview of the culinary creations

This creative and convivial challenge is an example of the teaching continuity plan put in place at Institut Paul Bocuse during the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers our students opportunities to work on entertaining projects and to express their talent, whilst putting into practice the techniques learnt throughout the year in class.