Competition day at Culinary Festival Bernard Loiseau

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It’s Thursday and the big day has arrived at the Culinary Festival Bernard Loiseau. Our island cooks go head-to-head as they create their fabulous dishes to impress the judges.

The final countdown

Here, Christopher Barber shares his insights from yesterday as the mercury starts to rise in the kitchens.

The jury meet in the presidential villa of Constance Belle Mare Plage. There are new members this year so the final briefing is essential. The scoring system and judging criteria isn’t complicated but could be interpreted differently, so as a Jury we need to be at one.

As I write, the European chefs will have completed their final brief and the island chefs will be on their own. The tension will be high. I hope the Islanders can leave anxiety to their European partners, and that they can relax and do themselves justice.

The jury meets at 11.30. I will have a walk on the beach to clear my mind, and a very light breakfast – I have my eating to do today!

Inside the world of our judges, European chefs and island cooks

We’ve published some interviews on our blog but there are lots more on our special website for the Culinary Festival Bernard Loiseau. Our judges, chefs and cooks reveal what drives them professionally, their favourite food, what creativity means to them and much much more.

The Jury – Christopher Barber, Enrico Bernardo, Patrick Bertron, Serge Vieira, Dominique Loiseau, Claus Meyer

The European Chefs – Fabrine Biasolo, Patrick Bittner, Jacques Decoret, Dominique Gauthier, Angela Hartnett, David Johansen

The Island Cooks – Ankur Daru, Kamlesh Doorjean, Nuwan Hiettiarachchi, Ravish Mukri, Jayram Seenanum, Hildy Sinon

More great photos from the festival on Facebook

Visit our Constance Facebook page to see more photos from the festival.

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