At 29 years old Paul Marcon carries the hopes of the French team to bring home the Bocuse d'or. Thirty years after his father Régis Marcon, it is he who is now behind the stove to win the most prestigious culinary competition which will take place on January 26 and 27 in Lyon.
Created by the famous chef Paul Bocuse known as “Monsieur Paul” in 1987, the distinction is compared to the World Cup of Cuisine.
“We have a candidate who will make history,” says star chef Romuald Fassenet, best worker in France and owner of the Château Mont Joly restaurant in Sampans, near Dole in the Jura. At the head of Team France for the Bocuse d'Or since June 2023, the Jura chef with a blue-white-red collar believes in his candidate who finished fifth during the European selection in Norway last March.
“I didn’t want to regret not daring to go there because of my name”
“The competition suits me because I have competition cooking, which is quite technical,” remarks Paul Marcon. The young chef from Haute-Loire “loves it when things are very structured and precise, and at the same time with little zests of originality from what I can find in my region”.
Paul Marcon works in the family Michelin-starred restaurant in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (Haute-Loire), with his big brother Jacques, himself a cook, and his father Régis, a three-star chef and honored with the Bocuse d'or in 1995.
“It allowed me to get to know the competition closely because he was involved even long after his victory,” admits Paul, who nevertheless wants to be calm “It’s something special but it’s certainly not a pressure” . And today after Régis, it’s time for Paul: “I especially needed to try for myself. I didn’t want to regret not daring to go there because of my name.”
“Everything is precisely measured to the second”
Helped by his clerk Camille Pigot, Paul Marcon now has two months to train before the big deadline. The duo devotes themselves entirely to the competition.
“We work six days a week in Écully at the French team’s training center,” explains the 22-year-old young woman. During the grand finale, they will have 5.5 hours, and not a minute more, to create two culinary proposals on set themes. “There is no improvisation, everything is precisely measured to the second,” confides Paul Marcon’s right-hand man.
“Give the most beautiful show possible. And make everyone proud”
The chef, who shares his first name with Bocuse, knows that he must stand out in ways other than just the taste of his preparations. “Of course it has to be good,” observes the Haut Ligérien, “but the 24 countries in the final are bound to do good things when it gets to that point. The artistic and visual side matters a lot. We have to make very clean things like little jewels.”
And do it the right way. On January 26 and 27, in addition to the jury, they will be observed by the public. “It’s also a show and we work to give the most beautiful show possible. And make everyone proud,” confesses young Marcon. Everyone, and maybe one in particular… to succeed.
France
