Introducing three Tamil bakers in the spotlight across Europe

2023 has been a wonderful year for Tamil bakers. Here are a few making their mark across Europe.

Tharsiny “Thas” Thanendran, a 27-year-old Tamil baker and mechanical engineer from Copenhagen, reached the final of Den Store Bagedyst 2023, the Danish spin-off of The Great British Bake Off.

Starting of her television cooking debut with a toolkit consisting of cinnamon rolls, morning buns and layer cakes, @tharsiny is now a pro in filled chocolates, macarons and glazed cakes. A favourite with the judges and audience alike, thas was also awarded 2 master baker aprons.

Our second baker is Sugeetharan Sigamani, a French Tamil who runs Au Duc de Claye bakery in Paris. If you enjoy freshly made, melt in your mouth chocolate filled puff pastry, head over to Sugeetharan multi-award winning bakery which specialises in croissants, brioches, galettes des rois and his signature pains au chocolat – where the chocolate filling is whipped up in-house.

In late October, he was awarded the best Pain au Chocolat in Paris & 2nd best across France. The annual competition was organised by the Confédération Nationale de la Boulangerie et Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Française (CNBPF) who represent 33,000 artisan bakers in France.

Our last baker is also from France and specialises in Baguettes. In May this year, 37-year-old Tharshan Selvarajah, won first place in the 30th annual “Grand Prix de la Baguette de Traditional Francaise de la Ville De Paris.” The 2023 winner of the prestigious baguette competition, and owner of Au Levain des Pyrénées bakery in Paris, was selected by a 15-member jury, who evaluated 175 candidates in a blind tasting.