Josh Baldwin was introduced to the White Sulphur Springs Rotary Club by Rotarian Mark Bowe and welcomed by president Emory Bowyer. Baldwin is the publisher/executive editor of the Greenbrier Valley Quarterly. Baldwin helped the group understand the level of expertise involved in cooking competitions, which he has covered extensively. He explained the difficult cooking competition in Lyon, France. Richard Rosendale and Corey Siegel joined the USA team and competed in the world’s most prestigious cooking competition. Baldwin joined the USA team and documented the competition and intense tasting sessions with some of the nation’s most renowned chefs. Baldwin said the first place prize for the event has evaded the USA team since its inception. The documentary shows the level of preparation involved at such a high level.
Baldwin took a crew of four people to Lyon, France in January, 2013, for 10 days to film the preparations for the actual event. The competition arena is extremely loud during the event and to practice for the noisy conditions, Rosendale and Corey Siegel, his Commis (assistant), pumped loud recordings of the crowd into their practice kitchen.
Baldwin started the Documentary in February 2012, when Chef Rosendale came home from Bocuse d’Or Tryouts USA, where he had won and was now the USA candidate for the event in Lyon in January 2013. Filming often went on for five to six hours, with three camera operators, which produced over 16 hours of footage to sync and go through. Additionally, over 20 interviews were conducted
The documentary film is almost finished, with the exception of a couple more interviews and moving into the post-production phase. Launching of a kick start campaign is planned for April to raise $30-40 K to edit, color, sound engineer and distribute the film. The tentative title for the film is “Contender.” Baldwin’s website is www.gvquarterly.