Copenhagen is also home to 10 Michelin-starred restaurants and the best young chef, Rasmus Kofoed, gold medallist at the prestigious Bocuse d'Or.

BBC: Copenhagen on a plate

The figure in white was 81-year-old Paul Bocuse, France's most celebrated chef and the founder of the contest about to start: the eleventh Bocuse d'Or.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The Americans wondered if their chances might improve by sending a chef experienced in cooking competitions, somebody accustomed to the long preparation the Bocuse d'Or requires.

WSJ: Celebrity Chef's Franco-American Quest

"Oui, chef, " he said, echoing words he'd uttered the first time he'd met Bocuse, more than four decades earlier, as a chef's apprentice in Lyon.

WSJ: Celebrity Chef's Franco-American Quest