The French do it best

March 27, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 02:05 am IST

The Gout de France festival takes place all over the world this week, spreading love through French cuisine

Monkfish in scallop sauce, pigeon stuffed with chestnuts and fondant au chocolat... French chefs have been making mouths water from early this week in a global celebration of the country’s cuisine.

More than 1,700 chefs in 150 countries are conjuring up French feasts in bars, restaurants, embassies and even a prison as a part of the “Good France” festival, a massive diplomatic push to promote the country’s famed gastronomic culture.

Inspired by the “Epicurian dinners” held by the legendary cook Auguste Escoffier across the world in 1912, the idea was revived last year by superchef Alain Ducasse. Actress and director Sophie Marceau, best known for her roles in the films Pacific Palisades and Braveheart was special guest at a dinner in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

But the most unusual meal of all will be held in London’s Brixton prison, where Gilles Quillot, head chef at the French embassy, has been schooling inmates on how to prepare white asparagus, among other delicacies.

“I was a bit nervous at the idea of coming into a prison, as you would imagine,” Quillot said. “But I have to say that the guys have been absolutely fantastic... I’ve already offered a job to one or two,” when they are released. The prisoners run a bistro called The Clink inside the jail where they feed up to 120 members of the paying public every night.

In India, more than 50 restaurants — from Chandigarh, Puducherry, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam — will take part in the Gout de France/Good France initiative. Eight restaurants in Bengaluru had a special menu for dinner early last week. Last year, there were a few imported ingredients but this is the year for prime Indian produce, according to Kunal Kumar, Executive Chef, Novotel Bengaluru Techpark hotel, who wants to play up what’s locally available. Twelve restaurants in Kolkata decided on Gallic menus with a traditional French aperitif, a cold starter, a hot starter, fish or shellfish, meat or poultry, a French cheeseboard, a chocolate dessert, and French wines and digestifs.

But Gout de France is not only about food, said Damien Syed, French consul-general in Kolkata, and added that it was a nice way of reaching to people’s hearts through their stomach, which would explain the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius’, idea of a “gastrono-diplomacy” drive, which will include “radically easing” immigration rules for cooks who desire to work with the finest French chefs.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault officially launched the dinners in Paris by sitting down himself to enjoy an aperitif and starters before tackling a main course, cheese and desert, all washed down, of course, with French wines and champagne.

— Agencies

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