Chau, butter: veganism at the World Pastry Cup

AT the 30th edition of this event which was held Monday night in Lyon, in France, the representatives Of the 21 countries qualified for the final, they had 10 hours to prepare several desserts, including one without animal or derived product.

Faced with this imperative, pastry chefs had to explore new techniques and not only replicate their clbadic pastry recipes.

The result? Desserts in which fruits and sorbets are the protagonists. Not to mention the soya milk, almonds and hazelnuts, very present in the dishes presented to the jury.

"To compensate for the lack of eggs and fat, the candidates used carrageenan (an algae extract) or xanthan gum (a bacterium)," says Ludovic Mercier, pastry chef at Geneva and elected best glacier of France.

The British presented a beautiful white dessert, with a raspberry sorbet inside. The Egyptians bet on the macaroni – the egg white was replaced by a chickpea stew (aquafaba) -. A nod to the fight against food waste.

But the winner was Malaysia, who impressed the jury with its technique and creativity, a scoop that confirms the rise of cooking on the Asian continent. Second place was occupied by Japan, followed by Italy.

France, the country with the most titles (eight cups in total), did not participate this year, having won the previous edition.

The vegan competition, which addresses one of consumers' main current concerns, challenged the creativity of candidates, but did not appeal to everyone.

"Butter and cream are like treats, I do not know how to explain, fat is good for your mood," says Philippe Rigollot, whose bakery in Annecy, in the Alps, is among the best in France, according to the Gault gastronomic guide. and Millau of 2013.

Visually, nothing indicated that the desserts were vegan. But in terms of taste, opinions vary since less fat means more sugar. And 60% of the result of this competition depends on taste.

"For me, the pastry is the clbadics, tatin, Paris-Brest (…) with a taste of butter and cream," confirms Etienne Leroy, president of the jury and champion 2017.

Behind the scenes, the bakers do not hide that it was a very specialized niche market, with great technical difficulties. "At Christmas, for example, we sold 30 vegan desserts out of 1,000", explains Ludovic Mercier.

And in the bakeries, it is very difficult not to use cream or gelatin so that the desserts remain standing in the window, explains Patrick Chevallot, pastry baker in the French Alps.

Many French pastry chefs have already started using less sugar in their recipes or making gluten-free desserts in the face of growing demand. But vegan desserts do not convince them 100%.

Some may point out that it's something Western, because in Asia, for example, these alternative ingredients are already part of the kitchen. Although the taste, they agree, it's not the same thing.