- Bocuse d'Or Weekly News #20 Mathias Dahlgren: the Swedish champion -
Mathias Dahlgren is one of the chefs who helped confirm Sweden as one of the top culinary countries in the world. Today, he welcomes us into his kitchen, in Stockholm where he gives us his take on the Bocuse d'Or, and how important it was for his career as a world class chef. It all started for the 1997 Bocuse d'Or which he won after many months of training. "It was half a year of my life when all I did was practice."

But the effort was all worthwhile as he was awarded the first step of the podium. "I opened two weeks after I won the competition everybody wanted to come and eat in my restaurant ; it helped me a lot in the beginning of my career." Today his Stockholm restaurant is considered one of the best in the world. But much has changed since he competed 15 years ago : "the modern cuisine is much more technical today than it was when I competed. I think if I were to do the same plate as I did in 1997, I wouldn't win the competition. But it's all about doing what's best in your time."

Mathias Dahlgren's talent and hard work got him where he is today, but the Bocuse d'Or greatly helped him go forward. As he concludes: "I still look back on this experience as one of the best experiences of my professional life."

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