More than 1,500 chefs gathered in the French city of Lyon on Friday to bid farewell to their ‘pope’ Paul Bocuse. The chef passed away last week aged 91
Never lost a Michelin star
Born into a family who have been cooks since 1765, Bocuse began his apprenticeship at the age of 16 and came to epitomise a certain type of French epicurean —a lover of fine wine, food and women
Bocuse helped shake up the food world in the 1970s with the Nouvelle Cuisine revolution, sweeping away the rich and heavy sauces of yesteryear in favour of super-fresh ingredients, sleek aesthetics and innovation
The heart of his empire, L’Auberge de Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, his father’s village inn near Lyon in food-obsessed southeastern France, earned three Michelin stars (the most coveted food honour) in 1965, and never lost a single one—a singular achievement. Bocuse, who had Parkinson’s disease for years, died in the room above the restaurant, the same one in which he was born
Soup named after a president
Bocuse’s most famous dish was a soup V G E, which was first served at a dinner at the Élysée Palace in 1975. It was named after the French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who had just awarded Bocuse the French Legion of Honor, according to The New York Times
Olympics for professional chefs
The biennial Bocuse d’Or culinary competition was founded by the French chef. The contest is considered the equivalent of the Olympics for professional cooks. Apart from mentoring many French chefs, Bocuse also has a special legacy in Japan, where many local chefs trained at his Institut Paul Bocuse, near Lyon
Second helpings
His status as the giant of haute cuisine owed as much to his showmanship and business sense as it did to his culinary genius. ”Good cooking for me is when you lift up the lid and it smells delicious, and you reach for a second helping,” Bocuse wrote a few years before his illness struck