Culinary Arts grad scoops third place at world cooking competition

Malaspina University-College Culinary Arts graduate Tobias Grignon ranks among the world’s top chefs under the age of 27.

Representing Canada at the prestigious La Chaine des Rotisseurs Society’s international cooking competition in Frankfurt, Germany on September 6, Grignon placed third out of 17 contenders.

“We’re so proud of him,” said Chef Debbie Shore, one of Grignon’s former instructors and mentors in Malaspina’s Culinary Arts program. “We knew Tobias was destined for success.”

Grignon graduated with distinction from the Culinary Arts program in 2000. He won a national cooking competition in Toronto last year, also sponsored by the worldwide culinary arts society, La Chaine des Rotisseurs. His first place win qualified him to represent Canada in Frankfurt.

Grignon’s ability to cook under pressure – honed while he was a student at Malaspina – was put to the test during the “black box” competition where competing chefs were given mandatory and surprise ingredients to create a meal from scratch in a limited amount of time.

“I had 30 minutes to create a menu and four hours of total cooking time to prepare an appetizer, main course and dessert,” explained Grignon.

Grignon whipped up a mouth-watering meal which included a scallop appetizer with curry sauce, braised leg of veal with a herb crust, and a dark chocolate ganache. While the cooking part of the competition went smoothly, Grignon suffered a bad case of jet lag and didn’t feel confident that his culinary creation was good enough to win.

“I felt like a zombie the entire trip,” he said. “I was lucky if I had more than three hours of sleep per night over the entire week in Frankfurt, so I didn’t feel my cooking was up to my usual standards.”

Sleep deprivation aside, Grignon’s self-discipline, years of training and on-the-job experience paid off. “The adrenalin kicked in and I did well,” he said. “It was a thrilled to represent Canada and place third."

Now formally inducted into the La Chaine des Rotisseurs Society, Grignon said the main thing aspiring chefs need to remember “is that whenever you’re competing, you have to maintain your composure and think quickly on your feet. The secret is not to look too stressed out.”

Grignon learned basic cooking skills from his parents, Paul and Tsiporah Grignon of Gabriola Island. His early knowledge and passion for cooking evolved further thanks to the expertise and mentorship of world-renowned chefs at Malaspina.

Immediately after graduation, Grignon landed a job at the downtown Vancouver Delta and Waterfront Hotels. He worked there for one season before joining the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria. He is currently the sous-chef at the Wedgewood Hotel’s Baachus restaurant in Vancouver.

Editor’s note: The next intake for Malaspina’s 11-month Culinary Arts program and new two-year diploma program is January 2008.  For more information, call (250) 740-6414.