French baguette making contest calls Vietnamese girl's name

The competition is open to everyone, from artisanal bakers and aspiring bakers to amateurs. Contestants submit two identical baguettes to the organizers: one for the judges to taste and evaluate, and the other for display at the awards ceremony. The chief judge is Guillaume Gomez, a renowned chef who spent 25 years at the Élysée Palace, including about 10 years as head chef, serving four French presidents. Gomez is currently the French President's special envoy for culinary affairs .

As a result, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga from La Boulangerie Française (French Bakery) won first place, ahead of Mr. Jérôme Buzenet (Tartine) and Mr. Nguyen Van Chi (Mega Market).

A 26-year-old woman from Dak Lak shared with Thanh Nien newspaper : "I happened to be introduced to La Boulangerie Française School by an acquaintance. This school specializes in training young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in French bread and pastry making, so I enrolled. The first time I tried authentic French bread at the school, I found it strange because it was quite different from Vietnamese bread. But after a few months working with flour and yeast, tasting baguettes every day, I grew to love it more and more. And when you love bread, you take care of your yeast. When yeast is nurtured, it works well, helping the dough ferment overnight to retain more nutrients, resulting in fragrant, fluffy, and fuller bread…"

Ms. Nga, along with Mr. Jérôme Buzenet and Mr. Nguyen Van Chi, will be attending a French bread-making training course at the Lesaffre school system in Singapore to improve their skills.

At the announcement of the competition results, Ms. Emmanuelle Pavillon-Grosser, Consul General of France in Ho Chi Minh City, reiterated that the baguette has always been considered "one of the symbols of French cuisine." These long, crispy-crusted baguettes (meaning sticks, canes, or chopsticks) are the most favored type of bread among the French. This long bread, first made in the 17th century, has become an indispensable food item for every family in France over time.

In November 2022, the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized "The Craftsmanship and Culture of the Baguette" as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. "The Baguette Culture" refers to the centuries-old French habit of buying a few loaves of bread daily from a bakery to enjoy as a meal.

The baguette has been popularized by the French in many parts of the world, including Vietnam. It is now a very popular food among Vietnamese people. Therefore, according to the French Consul General Pavillon-Grosser, the baguette-making competition was organized to celebrate the friendship between the two countries in the year marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and France.

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