France again world baking champion, a first in sixteen years

Ingrid Boinet | 1/25/24, 4:10 PM

For the first time in a long time, France is the world champion baker! One of the winners, Xavier Sacriste, tells us all about it.

France is once again the world leader in bakery products! After a sixteen-year wait, the French trio of Xavier Sacriste, Franck Fortier and Fabien Nolay reclaimed the coveted title at the Sirha Europain trade show in Paris. The team took over from Taiwan, beating out renowned rivals such as South Korea and Japan.

Xavier Sacriste, a competitor at heart

Every two years, the Bakery World Cup takes place at the Sirha Europain trade show. Ten international teams compete in four events: baguette and world bread, viennoiserie, bakery catering and artistic piece. The theme? Sporting events.

This year's French team comprised Xavier Sacriste, trainer at Institut Lyfe (formerly Institut Paul Bocuse), Franck Fortier, consultant baker at Minoteries du Château d'Ernée (Mayenne) and Fabien Nolay, trainer at the Paris Bakery and Pastry School.

Xavier Sacriste, in charge of the "artistic piece" category, had to create a 1.40 m by 1.60 m piece in eight hours. "We chose fencing from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games because it's the French sport that has won the most medals at the games, even though it's not a high-profile sport. We felt there was a certain elegance in the equipment and in the gestures," he explains.

Trained at the Grégoire Ferrandi school in Paris and having passed through some fine tables (Darroze, Robuchon, Pic...), this Lyonnais is a regular at competitions, having already competed in the Coupe de France de la Boulangerie in 2019. " I'm athletic and competitive, I fell into competitions by chance, and I quickly got a taste for them," explains the trainer. "Today, we're proud to have represented our country, which is the land of bread. I hope that young people will be able to continue this French tradition and showcase our know-how," he concludes.

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