Greece crowned Royal Zeelandia’s Masters of Pastry 2021
This year, the competition saw Giannis Tsichlis and Vagelis Kallioras from Team Greece edge ahead of Poland’s Karol Płachta and Urszula Bartecka-Matuszewska and Italy’s Fabio Ferrari and Valentina Scanavacca in an action-packed final held on 19-20 May.
Teams from over 20 countries participated in the preliminary sessions. In line with this year’s theme of Design in Pastry, the entrants were challenged to design outstanding creations with particular focus on unusual shapes, unique flavour pairings, eye-catching colours and distinctive textures.
The three finalists were whittled down by a jury made up of more than 2,000 pastry professionals who registered to watch the event, along with renowned international pastry chefs Willem Verlooy and Ramon Huigsloot.
Snack On The Go! winner
Facing two remarkable challenges in the live final, the trio showed off their best pastry skills to win over the jury but it eventually came down to the wire between Poland, which won the Pastry Creation inspiration pitch with its Tarte Nature, and Greece, which scooped up the top spot for its Snack On The Go! Piña Colada Taco.
In the end – by the tiniest of margins – the Greek team was victorious and crowned this year’s Masters of Pastry, winning an coveted prize of exclusive training at Le Cordon Bleu.
The six outstanding recipes by the finalists are available here.
Since its foundation in 1900 by the Doeleman family, Zeelandia has been exploring the world of bakery to find inventive ways to inspire customers with ingredients and better ways to bake, manage and sell glorious baked goods. Today, the company is a global force in the bakery ingredients business, with a 3,200-strong workforce dedicated to developing products tailored to local tastes in around 100 countries.
According to Zeelandia, its Fruitful range of ingredients is not only full of fruit, taste and texture, but also full of ideas and business opportunities for high-end bakers.
