It All Started With Escoffier...
Sommelier India|July/August 2017

The Gout de France event is held around the world on March 21 every year. Isabelle Beau De Lomenie attended one of these celebrated dinners in Delhi

It All Started With Escoffier...

It all started back in 1912 when Auguste Escoffier launched his Epicure Dinner, featuring the same menu, on the same day, in different cities of the world.

About a hundred years later another great chef, Alain Ducasse, was inspired by Escoffier’s event to create in collaboration with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs the concept of Good France or “Gout de France”, which translates into taste of France. This is an annual event held on March 21 to promote French Gastronomy, where 2000 chefs from all over the world treat their customers to a special tasting dinner.

For the 2017 edition, 14 restaurants participated in Delhi NCR. In addition, the French Ambassador to India, Alexandre Ziegler, and his wife Veronique hosted a specially curated dinner by the talented, young chef, Akrame Benallal, who owns “Akrame”, a two-Michelin-star restaurant in Paris, in the beautiful garden of their residence.

Pierre Gagnaire, another great name in French gastronomy, talking about Akrame says he has “magic hands”, while the famous French food critic, Gilles Pudlowski, describes him as “a ball of fire” with a unique energy you don’t find in every chef. Alain Ducasse sees his protégé as the new prodigy of French gastronomy.

This story is from the July/August 2017 edition of Sommelier India.

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This story is from the July/August 2017 edition of Sommelier India.

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