HG owns a beautiful bronze medal, finished with French blue enamel, from the Institute International de la Boulangerie. A five-pointed star hangs from a blue enameled crown which hangs from a blue ribbon. In the center we see a figure of St Honoré, patron of bakers, who holds a wooden bread trowel. HG always wondered about the medal’s role in competitive baking, as it looks like it MUST be a 19th century award. She’s a HUGE fan of the Great British Bake Off. Indeed, baking has been a competition SPORT for centuries, HG. This award dating from 1899 PROVES the point.
My research showed that a wonderful baker who attended the early Cordon Bleu School, founded in Paris in 1895, received this medal. Graduates from various expertise courses, described later in the article, obtained similar medals, for baking, of course.
Baking a competitive spectator sport?
Look at the Great British Bake Off, airing since 2010-2022 (contract extended), which reinvigorated the SALES of breads in UK and the US. It spawned other shows like it, such as Junior Bake Off and Bake Off: The Professional. The show gained the highest audience ever on UK’s channel 4 in 2020 at 10 million views on average. On Netflix it became the fifth most streamed show in 2020. The BBC heard 800 complaints about the treatment of a looser in a scandal called “BinGate.’”
This medal, one of a kind in 1899, is NOT one of a kind today. High level baking competitions include:
- Coupe du Monde de la Boulangeries, Paris, in which one wins a gold, silver or bronze medal for different types of breads
- Louis Lasaffre Cup
- World Cup of Baking, held in conjunction with Europain (a convention for the culinary world of 80K visitors each year)
- The Assembly of Extraordinary Bakers, founded in 2016
- Intergalactic Baker’s Federation
- The IBA Cup Bread Baker’s European Cup
- Society of the Elite de la Boulangerie International established in 1992 by the director of the Ecole Françoise de Boulangerie d’Aurillac
A leader in the education of French Bakers, director Christian Vabret reportedly formed his competitions and schools because of the worldwide decline in bread quality.
Baking Competition Origin
Various small specialty food shops rivaled in Paris on the Rive Gauche, the left bank of the River Seine, from the 17th century. Americans think of a bakery as offering baked goods. On the Rive Gauche two or more shops offer such goods: the Boulangerie for your baguettes etc., and the Patisserie for your pastries, tarts, and croissants.
Medals like HG’s were given as far back as the mid-19th century in various categories of baking specialties. The Coupe du Monde echoes these: twelve teams gather each year from twelve countries. Each team consists of three members: one specializes in Baguettes, one in artistic design, one in Viennoiseries (puff pastry). All three get together to create a sandwich. For winning they get a BIG medal the size of a huge loaf of bread.
Le Cordon Bleu
The largest of the world’s culinary schools teaches at least a hundred nationalities in twenty countries from thirty-five institutes, with approximately twenty-thousand students a year. Le Cordon Bleu consider themselves the guardians of French culinary technique. They award the GRAND DIPLOME to students who achieve high honors in BOTH Cuisine and Patisserie. OR a student specializes in cuisine, or just pastry and confectionary. Confectionary teaches specialized atelier techniques, advanced pastry, confection craft, decoration, and boutique/international areas. Another diploma offers Bakery: danish and artisan breads, focusing on French bread, specialty danish, and regional advanced yeast production methods.
HG’s medal was given for BAKING back in 1899, and the person who won saw little sleep in their future. This medal awarded for NOT “bucket” baking, but doing ALL from scratch with the best ingredients, allowing lots of time. For example a good croissant take at least eighteen hours, at least a crew of twelve working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Due to the popularity of baking today I believe this medal worth at least $250!