World Bread 2025: A Historic First Participation for the Mauritian Team

The Mauritian team proudly and determinedly concluded their first participation in the 10th World Bread – Taste & Nutrition, leaving a memorable impression with a bold culinary concept that provided the jury with a unique perspective of Mauritian bakery. For this notable debut in a global competition, Mauritius achieved a commendable 9th place, a success that reflects the talent and dedication of its team.

The adventure began on October 18 with a launch evening that brought together all delegations in a spirit of camaraderie. By October 20, Shezad Sahye and his assistant Farhaan Moosuddee entered the arena with an initial 2.5-hour session focused on preparing their sourdoughs and doughs. The following day, starting at five in the morning, the team endured eight and a half hours of intense challenges.

Under the watchful eye of the international jury, traditional breads and original creations, aromatic breads, health breads, sandwiches, and toasts followed one another. Pastries filled the rest of the day, showcasing their traditional, commercial, and prestige brioche, croissants, and flaky pastries in both prestige and commercial versions. Finally, the artistic piece, inspired by the theme of the 20th anniversary of the Ambassadors of Bread, completed this demanding showcase, a product of months of preparation at La Fournée des Moulins, the integrated training center of LMLC.

The uniqueness of the Mauritian proposal lay in the choice to tell the country’s story through its most familiar flavors. The team revisited symbols of street food and everyday snacks: gato pima, dipin vinday, macatia coco, gato arouy, anana disel pima, salmis. These nods, translated into the competition recipes, allowed the jury to discover a facet of Mauritian culinary culture.

To bring this approach to life, the bakers relied on local produce. All ingredients used were sourced from local production. Victoria pineapples, Chamarel criollo cocoa, tart roselle, Rodrigues lemons, taro, sugar, and molasses, coconuts, and even deer were integrated into the recipes as markers of authenticity. This commitment to using exclusively local products transformed their creations into a genuine showcase of Mauritius's agricultural and culinary heritage.

Coach Sabeer Hookoomally expressed pride in their journey: "We chose to present Mauritius through our breads and pastries. This first participation is a foundational experience that allows us to gauge our international level and learn to return even better."

For Shezad Sahye, this adventure is a stepping stone: "Representing my country at the World Bread event was a tremendous honor. I am leaving this experience enriched, with even more motivation to pass on this know-how and continue inspiring young Mauritian bakers."

Julien Audibert, General Manager of Les Moulins de la Concorde (LMLC), emphasized: "Participating in such a prestigious competition is a unique experience. Meeting and exchanging ideas with bakers from around the world is already a way to grow, learn, and draw inspiration from peers. The team proudly represented Mauritius by sharing our culinary identity and the richness of our local products. This is an important milestone for the baking sector, paving the way for further ambitions."

Created by the Ambassadors of Bread in 2007, the World Bread event is held every two years and features competitions in breads from around the world, pastries, sandwiches, toasts, and artistic pieces. The 2025 edition, hosted at the SERBOTEL trade show in Nantes, brought together twenty-one nations with a shared goal: to highlight bakery in its technical, creative, and nutritional dimensions.

Mauritius emerges stronger from this first participation. The country demonstrated that it has a unique voice to contribute on the global stage and that its culinary identity could be expressed in modern and demanding bakery creations. This experience is not an end but a beginning. It opens the door to new ambitions and confirms that Mauritian bakery has a place in the future of this discipline.

This first participation was also supported by partners who enabled the bakers to balance their preparation with their professional commitments, notably the Beachcomber group, whose support made this long-term adventure possible. This dynamic is fully in line with the vision of Les Moulins de la Concorde, the only local flour mill, which has always supported the entire sector – including over 200 bakeries across the island, whether traditional, artisanal, part of large or medium distribution, or from the hotel industry – through training, innovation, and knowledge transfer.