CREDIT: STEPHANIE LAI
Scott Baechler, chef and professor in the School of Tourism and Hospitality, left for Switzerland November 18 to compete with Team Canada at the Salon Culinaire Mondial from November 23 to 27.

Fanshawe professor and award-winning chef Scott Baechler left the classroom to travel to Basel, Switzerland to compete with the national culinary team in the Salon Culinaire Mondial — deemed one of the three most prestigious culinary competitions in the world.

“This is as high as it gets,” said Baechler, a mild-mannered man of 41, who travelled to Switzerland November 18 for the competition, which runs from November 23 to 27.

The competition itself consists of two components; hot served cold, and cold show salon — which Canada historically excels in.

It won't be a walk in the park, however.

“It's not a vacation,” he said. “They will probably have washroom breaks written into the itinerary.”

The Goderich, Ontario native is used to travel, having lived and worked in several places before Fanshawe entered the picture.

“I did seven years in Toronto, I lived in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, all over out west... and United Emirates in Dubai,” he said.

But the former executive chef never really set his sights on competitions like this.

“It's always something that's been on the back burner for me,” said Baechler. “At a younger age I was more focused on business, getting my head within the hotels and reaching the executive chef level, so I put that stuff on hold.”

“Now the opportunity's here and I'm going to cook my heart out and see what happens.”

And so for the past few months, Baechler has been getting to know his teammates, despite players changing in and out.

“Strategizing [and] gelling of the team is incredibly important,” he said. “You can have individuals who have great skillsets, but if the dynamics don't work, or communication or trust doesn't work, it's a challenge.”

Though Team Canada participates in competitions based in Switzerland, Luxembourg, New York and Germany, it's uncommon that core team members will go to all four.

“In a perfect world, I'd love to go to all four [competitions],” said Baechler. “It is a very heavy workload, you can imagine this is on top of your regular schedule of work.”

“Each competition is a little bit different,” said Baechler. “Some core members may stay the full four years, in more cases than not, the players change in and out based on dynamics, based on availability, based on schedules.”

Like Baechler, his Canadian teammates all hold regular jobs.

And that's what sets Team Canada apart from countries like Sweden. While Canada is known to be competitive, other countries will pay their competitors to focus on training, which he sees as a huge competitive advantage.

“As far as we go, I think the biggest thing is, we've got a new style, which is pretty aggressive,” he said. “Either the judges are really going to like it, or they won't.”

Baechler will return to teach after Basel, but what's next for the chef?

“Professional development is very important to me,” he said. “Most chefs are very creative, and they want to be pushed and they want to become better. It's a self-evaluation thing, or else I would die. You'd just become complacent.”

“I'm proud of the things I've been a part of here at Fanshawe, and the small things that I've been able to make ... Rather than look back, I want to look forward.”

Find out more about Team Canada at culinaryteamcanada.ca or follow their journey in Basal from their Twitter handle, @CulTeamCan.