Mondial du Pain 2025

In 2025, I represented Malaysia at the 10th Mondial du Pain in Nantes, France, together with my commis, Jia Ling Ho, under the guidance of Coach Den Omura. It marked Malaysia’s first appearance at the competition, and the result placed us 4th overall out of 18 participating nations, and 2nd in Asia.

I chose to take part in this competition for a specific reason.

Mondial du Pain is one of the few competitions that asks the candidate to carry the full scope of the work. Bread, viennoiserie, brioche, snacking, and artistic presentation are not separated across specialists. They are brought together in one space, under one responsibility.

That, to me, makes it one of the more demanding formats. It does not allow you to rely on only one area of strength. It asks for range, control, and consistency across very different kinds of work.

At the same time, the competition is built around two people — the candidate and the commis. That part mattered to me just as much as the technical challenge.

It is not only about execution. It is about how work is shared, how decisions are made, and how two people learn to move together under pressure. A quiet camaraderie forms in that process — a trust built through preparation, timing, and care.

In the structure of the competition, that relationship is not treated as secondary. The commis is judged in their own capacity, and the candidate is also assessed on how they guide, organise, and support the work.

In that sense, the competition reflects something close to how I have come to understand this craft — not as an individual act, but as something held between people.

This also connects to the spirit of Ambassadeurs du Pain. The 10th Mondial du Pain marked 20 years of Ambassadeurs du Pain, which made the theme of transmission feel even more significant.

The competition is not only a platform for performance. It comes from a culture that places importance on transmission — the passing on of knowledge, technique, and savoir-faire from one generation to the next. Bread is framed within a broader context of taste, nutrition, and presentation, rather than as an isolated discipline.

For me, this project sits as part of a larger body of work — one that continues to be shaped over time, and one that does not begin or end with a single competition.

The work itself will be shared in time.