News of Norway, February 3, 2003
Tjessem, who works as a cook at Statoil, in Stavanger, says:
- I am very grateful that Statoil gives me freedom and opportunities to be part of such an event. Now I can’t even manage to think straight.
Tjessem has trained for the event for months, even using the coach that helped speed skater Johann Olav Koss to win gold at the 1994 Olympics at Lillehammer.
More than lutefisk
Norway clearly can offer a lot more than meatballs and lutefisk in the culinary department. This was the third time in just 10 years a Norwegian chef wins the prestigious "Bocuse d’Or" award, or The World Cup of Cooking as the competition in Lyon is called.
Charles Tjessem worked his way through a marathon competition in Lyon, nicely helped by some 500 cheering countrymen.
The event runs from the purchase of raw ingredients to the finished meal, left Tjessem with top honors for a menu that included a trout filet topped with caviar and quail eggs and a beef filet dressed up with goose liver, truffles and chicken.
The winner who beats out a host of international competitors is widely acclaimed as "the world's best cook".
Two Norwegians have won this prize before: 1993 winner Bent Stiansen, who runs the restaurant "Statholdergaarden" in Oslo, and Terje Ness, most recently known for the restaurant "Oro" in Oslo, who won the prize in 1999.
Two days after winning the award, Tjessem was back in the Statoil kitchen in Stavanger.