The European selection of Bocuse d’Or, a biennial world chef championship, was recently held in Turin, Italy.

Besides the participating countries, a delegation from Armenia including chefs Rafael Kazumyan and Karen Poghosyan, as well as the head of Yerevan Food Fest and public figure Anna Mazmanyan, arrived in Turin.

At the initiative of Mazmanyan, Armenia started negotiations regarding its participation in the contest a year and a half ago. Now, the country has received the consent of the organizing committee to apply for participation in the European qualifying round in 2020.

“I first thought about the country's participation many years ago. We had long talks and were this time officially invited by the head of GL Events, Florent Suplisson,” Mazmanyan said, according to Euromag.

“We have now received the consent to participate. This is a very long process, you need to involve cooks and other professionals.”

“We are confident, however, that participation in competitions of this scale gives a strong impetus to the development of the industry and increases the attractiveness of the country.”

Named for the chef Paul Bocuse, the event is frequently referred to as the culinary equivalent of the Olympic Games.

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