The Biggest Bakery Show in the World (Part 2)

The bakery expo as a whole was great, but what really kept me coming back tirelessly day after day was the iba cup 2009. It is a baking competition of different countries, each represented by two chosen bakers or pastry chefs to show off their talent in making a set of baked products. The competition's list includes breads, small baked products, fine yeast dough pastries, danish pastries, puff pastry products and a showpiece.

Take a look at these photos from the competition and you will truly see the wonders of the bakery world.

The following are the showpiece/artistic breads entered from the respective countries:

Japan

Italy

Ireland

France

China


Switzerland


Russia


Poland


Korea

All products in the competition are made from ingredients frequently used in bakeries or pastry shops. Food coloring is not allowed, which means that the chefs had to improvise by using other edible ingredients to attain their desired colors.



European breads like the baguette, ciabatta, rye bread and other lean (no sugar) doughs are nice to look at, but as I see it, what really caught the attention of the people (aside from the showcase) are the danish pastries and small baked products. So here are the ones which are worthy enough for your eyes to feast on.

Japan

Switzerland

Russia

Poland

China

France

No, staring at them long enough won't make it come to life... :)