Tribute to a God of French gastronomy : JOEL ROBUCHON who left us on Monday 6 August 2018

Back on a lover of French cuisine

JOEL ROBUCHON - The emblematic chef of French haute-cuisine, Joël Robuchon died on Monday, August 6th at the age of 73. It leaves a culinary heritage recognized around the world but also the memory of a demanding man and jealously keeping the secret on his business and his private life

The most starred chef in the world, named "cook of the century" in 1990, Joël Robuchon died Monday at the age of 73, a few months after the disappearance of another monument of gastronomy, Paul Bocuse.

The great French chef has succumbed to pancreatic cancer in Geneva, where he planned to open a restaurant, we learned from his friend, the food critic Gilles Pudlowski, confirming information Le Figaro.

"He's a genius at the same time, and also a guy who does great things, he dared to cook things that were not considered noble", including his famous mashed potatoes, said Mr. Pudlowski about the chef, also known by his shows on television.

"His stars shine brightly," said Emmanuel Macron. Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux hailed a "visionary leader" who "shone the French gastronomy" from Paris to Shanghai.

The leader with an absolute record of Michelin stars (32 at the height of his career, 24 at his death), who was very discreet about his illness, was at the head of an empire of 26 institutions worldwide .

This star of gastronomy, who preferred to dress in black rather than white to cook, orphans the world of gourmets, already touched earlier this year by the death of Paul Bocuse and the one in June of the American Anthony Bourdain, face of universal gastronomy.

"He revolutionized the gastrnomy"

"Thank you chef", wrote on Instagram the British Chef Gordon Ramsay, a celebrity of the gastronomic world formed by Robuchon, while the star chef Anne-Sophie Pic hailed "one of the undisputed masters of world gastronomy".

Three-star owner, chef Marc Veyrat has not lost his praise: "It was a model, it's someone who has traced us an eternal furrow", he told AFP .

"He was the most creative man of the 21st century (...) he revolutionized the kitchen", he added, referring to one of the pioneers of the new kitchen - movement launched in France in 1973.

"He was one of those who woke up all the kitchens in the world, we just lost what the Japanese call a living God, we lost a legend," said AFP leader Guy Savoy, a friend of Robuchon.

Born on April 7, 1945, in Poitiers, Mason's son, Joel Robuchon thought first to enter the orders before becoming apprentice then companion, an experience which he will keep the taste of the transmission, forming many leaders.

Puree, its dish

Quickly his qualities in cooking make wonders: he is crowned Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 1976, elected "chef of the year" in 1987 and "cook of the century" in 1990 for Gault & Millau.

"Gault & Millau discovered it in 1983 at Hotel Nikko, at the time he was absolutely unknown, he worked in a hotel restaurant not particularly sexy.He made us a very strong impression, he was in the 'épure', recalls Como de Cherisey, at the head of the famous guide.

In 2003, Robuchon created a new concept, "L'Atelier": the first opens its doors in Tokyo and simultaneously in Paris. "The idea came to me in the tapas bars that I appreciate the conviviality I was looking for a formula where something could happen between the customers and the cooks," explained the chef at the Obs.

The signature dish of this great chef, who created an empire with more than 1,200 employees around the world and was passionate about Japan, was his mashed potato. "You had to be very big to be known all over the world with a puree! But what a mash!" Reacted to the AFP the Michelin starred chef Jean Sulpice.