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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 7 augusT 2018
Michelin-starred French master chef Joel Robuchon dies at 73

By SYLVIE CORBET the kitchen at a large Paris
SARAH DiLORENZO hotel, in charge of 90 chefs.
Associated Press For years, his culinary home
PARIS (AP) — Joel Robu- was at Jamin, a restaurant
chon, a master chef who near the Eiffel Tower that he
shook up the stuffy world opened in 1981. The restau-
of French haute cuisine rant racked up a Michelin
by wowing palates with star a year for its first three
the delights of the simple years — a feat no one had
mashed potato and giving ever accomplished be-
diners a peek at the kitch- fore. The wait for a reserva-
en, has died at 73. tion was two months, even
His career was one of super- though the price without
latives: Named among the wine was $200.
best craftsmen in France Even at this classic restau-
in 1976, crowned cook of rant, signs of the ways Ro-
the century in 1990, chosen buchon would shake up
to be one of the cooks at the culinary scene could
the "dinner of the century," be found. For one, his most
and, for years, holder of the famous dish was the lowly
most Michelin stars in the mashed potato.
world. "These mashed potatoes,
A spokeswoman for Robu- it's true, made my reputa-
chon confirmed his death, tion. I owe everything to
with French TV station BFM these mashed potatoes,"
and newspaper Le Figa- he said once during a
ro reporting that he died demonstration of how to
Monday in Geneva from In this Sept.7, 2014 file photo, French chef Joel Robuchon poses for photographers during a make the almost liquid dish.
cancer. photocall for the movie "The Hundred-Foot Journey", in Paris, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. "Maybe it's a little bit of nos-
Robuchon was known for Associated Press talgia, Proust's madeleines.
his constant innovation Everyone has in his memory
and even playfulness in my thoughts to his family." They didn't take reserva- chon reached a total of 32 the mashed potatoes of his
the kitchen — a revelation While Robuchon was no tions and many didn't even Michelin stars in 2016 — a mother, the mashed pota-
to the hidebound world stranger to the fancy — have tables. record — and still held 31 toes of his grandmother."
of French cuisine. He built truffles and caviar were His goal, Robuchon said, stars this year, including five The idea that a restaurant
an empire of gourmet res- among his favorites — his was to make diners feel three-star restaurants. might be a warm, casual
taurants across the world food was often described comfortable, let them in- Born just before the end of place, rather than a stuffy
—from Paris to Tokyo, Las as simple because he teract with the chef and, World War II in the French temple to awkward food,
Vegas and New York City. preached the use of only above all, put the focus town of Poitiers, south of was taking root. It was, in
"To describe Joel Robu- three or four ingredients in back on the food. It was the Loire Valley, Robuchon part, a rejection of "nou-
chon as a cook is a bit like most dishes. His goal was partially a rebuke to the studied at a seminary from velle cuisine," the move-
calling Pablo Picasso a always to show off, not Michelin star regime, which a young age and consid- ment that made French
painter, Luciano Pavarotti mask, their flavors. awards points not just for ered becoming a priest. But chefs notorious for small
a singer, Frederic Chopin He started a revolution technique but also for the hours spent cooking with plates, exquisitely present-
a pianist," Patricia Wells, with his "Atelier" (workshop ambiance and service. the nuns convinced him ed but often not all that
a cook and food writer, in French) business model: But Michelin, and just about that he had another call- satisfying.
wrote in "L'Atelier de Joel small, intimate restaurants everyone else, gobbled it ing. He got his professional But, as long promised, Ro-
Robuchon," a book about where diners sat at a coun- up. And thanks to Ateliers start at 15 at a local restau- buchon hung up his whisk
the chef and his students. ter surrounding the kitchen. around the world, Robu- rant and by 29 was running in 1996, at the age of 51.q
"Joel Robuchon will un-
doubtedly go down as the
artist who most influenced Beyonce reveals she had
the 20th-century world of
cuisine."
Many of France's greatest emergency C-section
chefs echoed those senti-
ments. Associated Press She says she put pressure on
French chef Marc Veyrat, NEW YORK (AP) — Beyonce herself to lose weight in the
whose restaurant holds reveals she had an emer- three months after the birth
three stars from the Michelin gency Caesarean section of her first child. But after
guide, said "he was some- when she delivered her the twins, she approached
one I love, formidable, ex- twins. things differently.
traordinary." He called The singer, in a series of es- Beyonce says she has a
Robuchon the "prince of says in September's Vogue "little mommy pouch" and
French cuisine" on RTL ra- magazine, says she was she's in no rush to get rid of
dio, adding "I'm not afraid 218 pounds and was swol- it.
to say he inspired me." len from toxemia. The She says it's important for
French chef Pierre Gag- 36-year-old says they spent her to help open doors for
naire, also a Michelin three- many weeks in intensive younger artists. Her photo is
star chef, wrote on his Ins- care and her husband, Jay the first Vogue cover to be In this Feb. 12, 2017 file photo, Beyonce poses in the press room
tagram account that "the Z, was "such a strong sup- shot by an African Ameri- at the 59th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
best among us is gone. All port system." can photographer.q Associated Press