Chef Michel Guérard, five Gault&Millau toques, has died
Michel Guérard, the emblematic figure of French cuisine and pioneer of nouvelle cuisine, has died at the age of 91. A chef with five toques, he left an indelible mark on gastronomic history and a priceless culinary legacy.
Our father, who art in heaven.He was the father of us all, the father of today's chefs of every generation, the father of nouvelle cuisine, the father of Gault&Millau.re of nouvelle cuisine, the father of Gault&Millau, which would probably not have existed without him, or at least not in the same way or with the same success.
Michel Guérard, born on a meander of the Seine in Vétheuil, spent his childhood in Pavilly, in the Pays de Caux region, where he was introduced to the first flavors of cuisine from his parents' butcher's and delicatessen. This childhood, his adolescence, his first steps as a commis at the pastry shop in Mantes, his apprenticeship at Delaveyne in Bougival, all the way to his first and most famous house, Pot au Feu.le Pot au Feu in Asnières, where the whole of Paris came to meet him, including Henri Gault and Christian Millau among the first, he kept very precise memories thanks to his astonishing memory of the past.Thanks to his astonishing memory, he was able not just to tell stories, but to mark out the path, to pass on what had been useful to him, what had marked him, like the initiatory description of what seemed to him to be the path of an honest worker.
All those who knew him will speak of his benevolence, his ability to listen, his constant concern to help others, sometimes to avoid falling, often to grow. Having reached the pinnacle of his profession, having received every possible award, he continued never to judge either his colleagues or the opinions expressed about his house, while offering encouragement and congratulations to those who deserved it.
A stone in the gastronomic edifice
Michel Guérard was above all a good man, and a natural authority. He had lived the hard life of the post-war years, had played a key role in the advent of a new vision of chefs and gastronomic cuisine, and had given birth to several brilliant generations. At any gathering or event where he was present, this tall, small, soft-spoken man spoke the truth, and when he approached to speak, everyone shut up and listened.
Thanks to his simplicity and peasant roots, he brought an epicurean dimension to haute cuisine that had not existed before him. From Prés d'Eugénie, where he deployed his genius for luxurious yet popular cuisine, to Ferme aux Grives, a model of sublime rusticity, he and his wife Christine created a Landes paradise and a magnificent phalanstery.
Like all chefs in France, we are orphans today.
My dear Michel, we will always savor the wonderful dishes you offered us, and those of your artistic children whom you raised will naturally follow in their footsteps. Your intelligence, humor and humanity will never be replaced.
To his daughters and family, Gault&Millau extends its condolences and deepest sorrow.
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