Photos: Team USA wins prestigious Bocuse D’Or — ‘It was a historic moment’
It was a long night of celebration in Lyon, France, after Team USA won the prestigious Bocuse D’Or food Olympics Wednesday evening for the first time in the competition’s 30-year history. Chefs Mathew Peters and Harrison Turone were the first Americans to ever win the gold medals after defeating competition from 25 countries.
The two chefs, who worked at Bouchon at The Venetian, won the right to represent the United States after winning U.S. preliminaries in December 2015 at The Venetian. They moved to Napa with head coach Philip Tessier for yearlong preparation with star chefs Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud. Philip was the first American to ever win silver at Bocuse D’Or two years ago.
Among the Las Vegas culinary world figures attending were chefs Thomas, Daniel, Paul Bartolotta, Ming Tsai, Joel Robuchon, Claude LeTohic, David Werly and Olivier Dubreuil and The Venetian and Palazzo F&B chief Sebastien Silvestri, who told me this morning:
“It was a historic moment for the USA on the 30th anniversary of Bocuse d’Or. It is really amazing to see what Thomas and Daniel along with the mentor team have done in the past year to get the USA chefs ready to compete at this highest of levels.
“I am not surprised to see the U.S. at the top of the culinary scene today. A food revolution took place, and we should be very thankful for luminaries like Thomas and Daniel and what they have done for our country. It was a very emotional moment for all of us.”
