Gradignan: The Rotary Club is celebrating manual labor by organizing a pastry competition at the Culinary Institute of France.

The Rotary Club of Gradignan organized a pastry competition at the Culinary Institute of France in Bordeaux, highlighting the manual work and creativity of the students.

On Thursday, May 15, the Rotary Club of Gradignan organized a pastry competition with first-year CAP students (preparing for a two-year course) at the Culinary Institute of France in Bordeaux.

The Institute is a private educational establishment created in 2020, in association with Pierre Hermé, training 200 students in the fundamental techniques of the sweet arts (bakery, pastry, chocolate, confectionery and ice cream).

"We used to meet with the Compagnons du Devoir, roofers and stonemasons. This year, we wanted to highlight the pastry profession at the Culinary Institute," explains Sophie Bondonny, who is in charge of this project at the Gradignan Rotary Club.

"We're not tasting specialists, but we do represent the opinions of customers who love good pastries. And this competition is good practice for the day the students face a real jury," adds Nicolas Calt, treasurer of the Gradignan Rotary Club.

Three teams were congratulated. The winners were Ninon Dumas and Ambre Astruc for their dessert "La vie en rose." Second prize went to Céline Poulain and Louis-Xavier Beauchamp for "Angura," and third prize to Émilie Malherbe, Manon Solans, and Clara Marteau for "Sunrise."

"Beyond the 600 euro budget allocated to these three teams, it's the message that is important: we congratulated them perhaps for the first time for their work, their creativity and the magnificent things they have created with their hands," adds Alain Jarousseau, president of the Gradignan Rotary Club.

Executive chef Kyung-Ran Baccon, crowned vice-world champion in pastry and a semi-finalist in the Meilleur Ouvrier de France Pâtisserie 2015 competition, said she was "very moved and proud of the students, their seriousness, their passion for the profession..."

For his part, Damien Baccon, a bakery and pastry chef trainer at the Institute, congratulated all the young people, saying he was "pleasantly surprised by the work accomplished and the enthusiasm for this project. It was a first, and I think we'll do this type of competition again."