Every year it seems we post some sad story about the decline of the French culinary arts (2K4 is here and 2K5 here). Here is this year's sad tale.
The World Association of Cooks Societies ("W.A.C.S." or "WACS") is a global network of chefs associations founded in October 1928 at the Sorbonne where the legendary August Escoffier was named its first Honorary President. Among its many activities WACS organizes and judges culinary competitions among member teams. Since 1978 the French have deigned not to compete -- until this year. A French team of five celebrity chefs* signed on for the three-way Battle for the Dragon Restaurant of Nations contest, competing against national teams from Germany and Wales.
France's long absence from the competitve kitchen showed.
SACR BLEU! WELSH CHEFS OUT-COOK FRENCH
IN HAUTE CUISINE BATTLE
February 24, 2006 (icWales/WM) - WELSH chefs have beaten the French at their own game - haute cuisine.Wales had plenty to celebrate last night after beating France, a nation world renowned for its culinary skills, in a tough international cook-off. Both Wales and Germany were awarded gold medals, while the French were awarded silver at the end of the three-day contest in Llandudno. Germany however beat Wales by a whisker, winning the hotly-contested dual on points. To qualify for a gold medal the teams needed 270 to 300 points, while 240 to 269 points merited silver.
Each morning one team in the Battle for the Dragon cooked a three-course meal at Coleg Llandrillo using mainly Welsh produce. The food was served to 70 guests and the international panel of three judges. The Welsh team cooked a main course of lamb, the Germans used pork and the French used beef.
Welsh beef could be on its way to thousands more dinner plates in France after impressing top French chefs in the Battle for the Dragon. This represents a turnaround in fortunes from the time when France illegally refused to allow imports of British beef after restrictions linked to BSE were lifted in 1999. The French team at the Llandudno competition used Welsh beef as the central ingredient of its main course. Team captain Bernard Leprince, who is in charge of 12 of Paris's top restaurants, said the meat was 'fabulous' and hoped to be able to specify Welsh beef for use in his kitchens - where 416 chefs cook 10,000 meals every day.
FRENCH CHEFS FEEL THE HEAT
AS WELSH AND GERMANS BEAT THEM
IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEST
February 24, 2006 (Guardian) - After three decades of declining to compete in international culinary competitions a French team stepped back into the arena yesterday - and finished a dispiriting last behind Germany and Wales, countries not always associated with haute cuisine.Determined to make a good impression at a contest in north Wales, France had put up five of its most respected chefs. But the judges were underwhelmed by their skills, describing them as "old fashioned", and did not take too kindly to their laid-back approach to timekeeping. Nor were they pleased that the French had spent almost double the budget for the competition and prepared some of the more fiddly bits in advance.
[Team France, led by ppular Paris chef Bernard Leprince,] got off to a stumbling start. Their "show plates" were half an hour late for the judges, who said they were not impressed by the team or their old fashioned techniques. "Times have moved on," one judge said. They also spent double the £450 budget.
But the French were good sports about their poor showing. No Anglo-conspiracies bruited. No down-the-nosers. No boo-hoos. No pouts.
Mr Leprince was not downhearted. "It was our first competition and we enjoyed it."
Competitive, professional, gracious -- imagine a France so imbued. We'd have to shutter Pave and seek honest work.
* Team France:
1. COACH: Bernard Leprince, Meilleur Ouvrier and Maitre Cuisinier de France
Corporate Chef de Cuisine - Les Freres Blanc & Chez Clement, Paris
2. Francois Adamski, Laureat 2001 Bocuse d’Or
Chef de Cuisine, l’Abbaye Saint-Ambroix, Bourges
3. Michel Roth, Laureat 1991 Bocuse d’Or, Meilleur Ouvrier & Maitre Cuisinier of France
Chef de Cuisine - Ritz Paris
4. Jean-Marie Gautier, Meilleur Ouvrier & Maitre Cuisinier of France
Chef de Cuisine - Hotel du Palais, Biarritz
5. Philippe Uracca, Meilleur Ouvrier of France & Patissier sur Toulouse; President of the MOF, Pastry & Confectioners
Epicure Pâtisserie Chocolats, Toulouse
MANAGER: Michel Bouit, WACS Representative for France; Executive Director, Bocuse d'Or USA; President, MBI Culinary Consulting
PFFT (What is this?): Cuisine comme ci comme ça 2 | Rayonnement français 2
To conclude that French culinary tradition is "on the decline" based on some themed cooking contest is like saying "American Cinema is on the decline" because Americans failed to place in the top three at this year's traditional Festival Du Film Fantastique (formerly Festival d'Avoriaz), also based on a theme (Science Fiction / Horror).
Besides, it's not that French culinary tradition is on the decline, but rather that our poor Anglo-Saxon friends in particular have begun to come out slowly out of the Dark Ages in the gastronomy department.
Congratulations to them, and to Wales!
The French edition of the Michelin Red Guide goes on sale next week.
But in the opinion of inspectors from the Michelin Red Guide, "the food has been declining," said Jean-Luc Naret, director of the annual reviews that can fill a restaurant or send it into oblivion.....There are some incredible young chefs going back to villages and opening restaurants," Naret said. "French gastronomy is definitely not dead."
Read it all here (bolding mine)
It may, indeed, not be dead; but don’t eat the foie gras or you may be :)
Bonjour,
Mon cher Zoomerx ,parler de gastronomie anglo-saxonne n'est ce pas un oxymore ?
Amitiés.
