Canada announces team to compete at World Cup of Baking in France

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EDMONTON — Canada has secured a spot at the prestigious international World Cup of Baking competition to be held in Paris next year. The team will be comprised of four members from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), who secured a spot at the international competition after scoring the highest points at the Louis Lesaffre Cup earlier this month in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the qualifying event for North, Central and South America. This is the first time Canada has qualified for the World Cup of Baking.

“Canada has tried four times to qualify for the World Cup of Baking. This time we succeeded. We’re part of history for Canadian baking,” said Alan Dumonceaux, manager and Viennese pastry competitor and chair of NAIT’s Baking program. “For our students at NAIT, this is significant. All the skills we developed in training for this competition will be transferred back into our teaching and passed along directly to our students.”

Four of the team’s members are from NAIT, including Dumonceaux, technical advisor Clayton Folkers (NAIT Baking instructor), artistic showpiece competitor James Holehouse (graduate of the NAIT baking apprentice program) and young hopeful Elien de Herdt (NAIT Baking graduate). Leading the team as coaches are Mario Fortin (Quebec) and baguette and world breads competitor Marcus Mariathas (Ontario). In addition to qualifying in Argentina, the award for top young hopeful baker went to de Herdt.

Established in 1992, the World Cup of Baking, also known as the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, is held every three to four years. The competing teams consist of three bakers.

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