“GOÛT DE
FRANCE” - GOOD FRANCE
A UNIQUE
OPPORTUNITY TO ENJOY THE TRUE TASTE OF FRENCH CUISINE
On Monday, 21
March 2016, in 150 countries around the world, restaurants and embassies offered 1,500 dinners the chance to celebrate France’s gastronomy by inviting the public to
share a “French dinner”.
“Goût de France” - Good France is inspired
by Auguste Escoffier, who launched the “Dîners d’Épicure” (Epicurean Dinners)
initiative in 1912 and guests enjoyed the same menu on the same day, in several world cities simultaneously.
In French
embassies across the world and all participating restaurants, the event showcased a
vibrant, open and innovative cuisine, while remaining true to the values of
sharing, pleasure and respect for the principles of high-quality, environmentally
responsible cuisine.
Launched in
2015, the “Goût de France” (meaning 'Good France' initiative was organized for the second consecutive year by the French Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and International Development and Chef Alain Ducasse.
THE ELEGANT RESIDENCE OF FRENCH AMBASSADOR HIS EXCELLENCY CHRISTOPHE PENOT. OF COURSE I PREFER THE OLD RESIDENCE WITH VAST GARDEN AND OWN POND BUT THAT HAS BEEN SOLD FOR MANY MILLIONS. THIS HOUSE BELONGED TO TUN SIR HENRY H.S LEE, THE FIRST FINANCE MINISTER OF MALAYSIA THEN MALAYA AND PASSED AWAY IN THIS HOUSE.
HIS EXCELLENCY CHRISTOPHE PENOT AND WIFE MADAME YUKIMI WITH VIP GUESTS HEADED BY TENGKU ZATASHAH SULTAN SHARAFUDDIN IDRIS SHAH THE DAUGHTER OF THE SULTAN OF SELANGOR AND HIGHEST RANKING PRINCESS IN SELANGOR
OUR EXQUISITE MENU
HIS EXCELLENCY CHRISTOPHE PENOT WELCOMING AND THANKING HIS VIP GUESTS
THE PAINTINGS WERE ADMIRED BY ALL
ELEGANT SOIREE
LEGEND
STYLISH
TRES CHIC
ERIC OLMEDO EXPOUNDING ON THE INTRICACIES OF FRENCH GASTRONOMY
WORTHY OF CARTIER PANTHER BUT THIS IS MALAYAN TIGER
DATO KEE HUA CHEE FLAUNTS HIS SMALL, DISCREET BLING
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The
Gastronomic meal of the French has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since
2010, but it is a heritage that should be built upon and showcased. In the
words of Alain Ducasse: “French cuisine
is the interpreter of a cuisine that has evolved towards lightness in harmony
with its environment... The common point of this event is generosity, sharing
and the love of what is beautiful and tastes good. It will be a delightful
interlude and an opportunity to celebrate French cuisine worldwide.”
In Malaysia, five
restaurants and one culinary arts school participated in “Goût de France” - Good France from 19th
to 23rd March*.
Each one of the 5 participating chefs in Kuala
Lumpur offered a “French-style” menu in their restaurants based on a
multi-course meal and fresh, seasonal and local products with French wines and
spirits, while remaining free to highlight their own culinary traditions and
cultures.
The climax of this worldwide event was on 21st March (Spring
day) when 30 fortunate guests enjoyed a spectacular dinner hosted at the French Ambassador’s residence that evening.
The 5 leading French restaurants which participated were Maison Francaise, Nathalie Gourmet, Restaurant DC, Soleil, 20X and Le Cordon Bleu Malaysia Culinary Arts School.
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ABOUT FRENCH GASTRONOMY
WE ENJOYED THESE DELICIOUS DISHES
OYSTERS
MUMM CHAMPAGNE
FOIE GRAS
LAMB
CHOCOLATE DESSERT
C'EST MAGNIFIQUE!
WE ENJOYED THESE DELICIOUS DISHES
Origins of the term
“Gastronomy”
The term ‘Gastronomy’ takes its roots from Ancient Greek language.
It comprises of two words “Gastèr”
(stomach) and “nomos” (law). So
literally, it could mean “laws to rule the stomach”, but it is often phrased as
‘The art of governing the stomach’.
The Greek
term ‘gastronomia’ seems to have been
used at first by a Greek poet and traveller named Archestratus (4th
century before EC); in some ways the first “gastronome”. The term “gastronomie” then appears sporadically
in French language throughout the 17th century; but it is Joseph de
Berchoux who popularizes the term in his long poem entitled ‘La Gastronomie” published in 1801.
According to the “Academie
Française” (the Institutional Body that looks after French language), a
suitable definition would be: “Sum of rules that constitute the art of enjoying
good food”. This is our first clue: we can clearly see that this definition
takes us beyond the mere definition of cuisine, which is usually restrained to the
art of preparing good food.
Gastronomy: art or
science?
Often equated to “Fine Dining”, the concept of gastronomy echoes the
notion of dining etiquette, therefore ‘rules’ (‘nomos’) and does not sound at first very ‘guest-friendly’. The
question is: do these rules apply to the other aspects of gastronomy, such as
food preparation? In short, is French gastronomy that deterministic? In order
respond accurately to this fundamental question, it is necessary to dwell back
into French history.
During the Middle Age, French cooks were at the service of
Military aristocrats (the knights): their science of cooking was based on the
precepts of alchemy. The quest of the alchemist was always to capture the
essence of matter. Applied to cookery, this quest engendered the creation of
the ‘sauces’, re-termed ‘liquid gold’, which were meant to capture the essence
of the food.
The actual “Cuisine de Cour”
(Royal or “Court” cuisine) really took off during the Renaissance era,
incorporating these famous rules, rituals and aesthetics, for the glory of the
King and God.
During the aftermath the
French Revolution, many aristocrats fled the country. The former Valets and Maîtres d’hôtel went unemployed. Among the valets who stayed, some
of them opened their own ‘restaurants’.
These restaurants blossomed and recreated Royal Cuisine for the Bourgeoisie.
Dishes were even named after France’s royal past, as the Bourgeois wanted to
emulate the aristocracy: Chantilly cream, Sauce Bechamel, Riz Condé, etc.
This
particular process of ‘gastronomisation’
gave birth to a type of Cuisine that sociologists would
call a ‘high cuisine’, as opposed to ‘low cuisine’ (popular cuisine).
High cuisine or ‘Haute Cuisine’ is only a parcel of the broader concept of
‘gastronomy’, which doesn’t limit itself to the cooking (cuisine) but also
includes in its system a particular type of eater: the figure of the ‘Gourmet’.
2 main features of French
Gastronomy: The Chef and the Gourmet
The figure of the gourmet is probably unique to French gastronomy.
Mostly today used as an adjective in English language (the
ubiquitous ‘gourmet meal’, ‘gourmet experience’, ‘gourmet coffee’, etc.), the
noun ‘gourmet’ is at times wrongly translated as ‘gourmand’ (literally “greedy”).
Etymologically, the French term ‘gourmet’ referred in the 15th
century to an occupation: it was the man in charge to segregate good from bad
wines through tasting. The shift of meaning towards somebody who knows how to
appreciate good food occurred mid-seventeenth century.
Still today, the sophisticated education of the Gourmet lies at the
core of French Gastronomy as an epicurean system.
The Chef
OUR CHEF!
The Chef (literally ‘Chief’) or “Chef de cuisine” can be viewed as a
worker, artisan or artist. Some chefs would say they are all this at the same
time.
We wish to envision Chefs who cook gastronomic cuisine as artists, more
than scientists: alchemy was never a true science, and the proponents of
molecular gastronomy would have a hard time to label their recipes as
‘scientific protocols’, even though it was their original leitmotiv.
There is
debate and fierce competition to acknowledge Gastronomy as the 10th
form of art in the very academic “Classification of Art’ rooted in the Ancient
Greece’s inventory linked to the nine Muses. If we need one reference to credit
French Gastronomy as an art, rather than a science, we would have to go back to
the Benedictine Rule (Christian monastic rule written in the 6th
century) in the Middle Age, which captured cookery, cheese and wine-making as
part of the ‘mechanical arts’ (manual
activities).
Today, Chefs (notwithstanding celebrity chefs) are much more
mediatized than their counterparts in the dining room, the maîtres d’hôtel (or
maître d’), who had their glory days before the rise of the Nouvelle Cuisine in
the 1970s.
Is French Gastronomy
elitist?
If we consider the Michelin star ranking system, criticized by some
as being anti-democratic and non transparent, as well as the average menu
prizing in Michelin-starred gastronomic restaurants, the first obvious answer
seems to be a yes.
Having said so, Gastronomy is part of French lifestyle, therefore it
is a tangible manifestation of one aspect of our culture. Culture is not an
artifact: it changes and evolves through time. So is Gastronomy.
The book entitled “The Guide
Culinaire” (translated as ‘A Guide to Modern Cookery’) authored by the ‘King
of Chefs’ and ‘Chef of Kings’ Georges Auguste Escoffier, and originally
published in 1903 aimed at codifying and streamlining French Gastronomy. It was
most needed at the time by the industry.
Today, in a global market, one cannot disregard a recipe as being
unauthentic and view variations of the ‘original recipe’ as deviances, but
should rather look at it as a different interpretation.
In the 70s, the ‘Nouvelle Cuisine’ movement
stopped hiding ingredients in mousses, stuffing, pies, aspics and pastries… but
instead put back food products up front in their whole integrity, emphasizing
on the freshness of the said ingredients. More recently in the 1990s, the
movement of the ‘cuisines du terroir’
made an attempt at revisiting humble recipes from French provinces.
This
‘regionalism’ developed concurrently with a form of cosmopolitanism whereas
French Gastronomy became progressively less ethnocentric, thus incorporating
elements from a World cuisine, as per the work of Alain Ducasse or Thierry Marx
for instance.
Finally, at the occasion of the French Gastronomy Week, Great
Chefs step into primary schools and educate small children, prompting them to
acquire a solid sense of taste, throwing the seeds for a new generation of
gourmets.
This form of education develops a form of very French ‘Elitism for
All’: this educate to taste is about consciousness, about the environment, and
about self.
It also enables for a sense of happiness to progressively rise.
As the gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin used to say: “The
discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity than the discovery
of a new star’.
EMMANUEL DOKHELAR, ASHA DAVID HASHIM, DAVID MIZAN HASHIM AND GWEE SZE KIAT
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