A Taiwanese team of bakers was awarded first prize at an international baking competition in Paris. The 2022 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, a celebration of artisan baking that seeks to uphold traditional techniques, took place from 26-28 March in Paris, and saw Taiwan’s team triumph.

The competition welcomes national teams of three to tackle a series of baking challenges, with each member taking on either Baguettes and Speciality Breads, Artistic Design or Viennoiserie, before the team members come together to collaborate on the fourth and final category, Gourmet Baking.

Led by coach Wu Wu-hsien, a baker with three decades of experience, the Taiwan team was comprised of Justin Wu, the founder of Just in Bakery in Taipei, who took on Baguettes and Specialty Breads; award-winning baker Lee Chung-wei, who handled the Viennoiserie round; and Hsu Shao-huan who stepped up to the Artistic Design challenge.

The team’s use of local Taiwanese ingredients in particular, including Yilan golden jujubes, Tainan Aiwen mangoes and Miaoli Dahu strawberries, set their speciality breads apart and impressed the judges.

A total of 11 national teams took part in the competition, including France, Egypt, Denmark, Ivory Coast, Morocco, the Netherlands, South Korea, Norway, Senegal, Taiwan and Costa Rica. The Dutch team was awarded second place after Taiwan, with the Norwegian team coming in third. Countries that place in the top three are guaranteed an entry into the next edition of the competition, which will take place in January 2024.