Long Live the Friendship: French Young Bakers and Chinese Young Bakers Shared Bakery Skills 友谊万岁:法国年轻烘焙师和中国年轻烘焙师们分享烘焙技术

This year is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the People’s Republic of China. On April 22nd and 23rd, this event was celebrated in a beautiful way at SYB baking center: 16 French students taught 14 Chinese students how to bake French bread and pastries, and the latter showed them everything they knew about Chinese bakery!

These French students are in the last year of their training in bakery and pastry at the vocational high school Portes de Chartreuse. They have amazing teachers who share the belief that bakery and pastry are know-hows that can be shared and used all over the world! They decided to apply that conviction by giving their students the challenge to raise enough funds to organize a trip to China. During 3 years, teachers and students worked hard, organizing public pastry classes or selling products to gather the budget needed…and 250,000 macaroons later, they did it!

We were very excited at SYB when we learnt about their project, and extremely pleased to welcome them at our baking center. The Young Bakers were also really looking forward to it, however I could feel a bit of apprehension: it would be their first time to interact with so many foreigners, and their English is very basic, how would they communicate? It would also be their first time to teach others all by themselves, and the teachers were wondering: would they be able to be that independent?

All these worries disappeared when the smiling French group entered SYB baking center. We gave them their uniform with their Chinese name embroidered, they split into groups and started immediately to teach them the delicious recipes that they had developed themselves. Most of these recipes were classics that SYB students knew, such as éclair or countrybread, but with some original twists: a lemon-ginger éclair or camembert countrybread!

As soon as they started working together, the initial shyness between young French and Chinese vanished. Yes they were only able to say a few sentences, but they could take their friend’s hand and show them directly how to do! We were all impressed at how fast and efficient these international teams were, especially when we saw the beautiful results of their hard work!

On the second day it was the turn of SYB students to teach their new French classmates some classics of Chinese bakery, such as bread with red bean paste or meat floss. The French bakers were very diligent students, and the Chinese attentive teachers. After their first day they all felt much more comfortable working together, and laughters, funny faces and smiles filled that second day! There was even some much heated arm wrestling…

As for the first day, the outcome of their work was impressive, and SYB teachers were especially proud to see the huge progress accomplished by the Young Bakers. Not only could they complete these recipes on their own, but they could teach others as well, and foreigners to boot!

It’s safe to say that these two days will be remembered forever by SYB students and team. I would like to warmly thank again the Portes de Chartreuse teachers and students: we were extremely happy to meet you, and look forward to seeing you again!

Floriane, SYB program manager

众所周知,今年是中法建交50周年。4月22日和23日,海上青焙坊也在烘焙中心用特别的方式来庆祝了这一重大事件:16个来自法国的学生教授14个中国学生法式面包和西点,之后这些中国学生又与法国朋友分享了他们的中式烘焙技术!

这些学生都是法国职业学校的学生,并在即将那里完成面包和西点的最后一年课程。那里的老师都很出色,他们相信烘焙是一种可以在世界各地使用和推广的技术。为了让他们的学生能够认识到这一点,他们让学生自己通过烘焙来筹集本次赴中国的旅途费用。在三年之中,老师和学生都努力地工作,通过提供对外烘焙课程和售卖他们的产品来筹集资金。最后他们成功了:他们卖出了250,000个马卡龙!

当海上青焙坊听说了关于他们的项目时,我们都很兴奋,并且非常欢迎他们来到我们的烘焙中心作交流。海上青焙坊的年轻烘焙师们非常期待他们的到来,然而我却对他们的造访却有一丝顾虑:对于海上青焙坊的学生来说,这会是他们第一次和那么多外国友人互动。他们的英语水平十分有限,那交流会不会有障碍呢?这也会是他们第一次亲自教授别人烘焙,我们的老师很担心:他们能不能独立地完成这项任务?

提供了绣有他们中文名字的烘焙制服。他们分成了好几组然后立刻就开始教授海上青焙坊的学员们他们自己研发出来的美味烘焙配方。这些配方大多数都是学员们所熟知的面包类型:例如手指泡芙和乡村面包,但是这些产品在原有的基础上又有了革新:这次是柠檬生姜味的手指泡芙和乳酪乡村面包!

交流学习开始之后,中法两组学生立即就没有了一开始的羞涩。他们虽然对对方的语言几乎一无所知,但是他们可以直接手把手地教他们制作面包的程序!对于他们这样一组国际化的团队能有如此高的效率,我们已经非常吃惊了,更别说当我们看到他们努力工作后完成的美丽的面包艺术品时我们心中的惊喜之情!

第二天就轮到海上青焙坊的学生来教他们的法国朋友经典中式烘焙,例如由红豆和肉松制成的面包。法国学生们都非常勤奋,而中国学生也专注地当他们的老师。在前一天的合作之后,他们能够更加自然地相处。第二天的交流活动从早到晚都充满了欢声笑语。在课间,两校之间甚至还举行了扳手腕比赛!

学员们第一天的学习成果非常出色,我们的老师对他们长足的进步感到十分骄傲。现在学员们不光可以自己制作配方,还能够教授他人,尤其是外国友人!

可以说这两天的活动让海上青焙坊的学生和团队感到终生难忘。我也希望在这里能够再次感谢法国职业学校的老师和学生们:能够认识你们真的很荣幸,我们也期待着能和你们再次见面!

林兰,海上青焙坊项目经理