/ 20 December 2007

French children hone taste buds at three-star restaurant

In food-obsessed France, distinguishing between the tart and the bitter or the crunchy and the crackly, or even simply sorting good food from bad, became part of the school year nearly two decades ago.

So it is almost routine to march a class of 10-year-olds into one of the world’s most sought-after restaurants for a morning of munching through platefuls of delicacies whipped up by one of the country’s top chefs.

Adults have to book at least a month in advance to dine at the more than 200-year-old Le Grand Vefour in Paris. But every six weeks or so, chef Guy Martin calls in a class to pass on his knowledge of food, for free.

”I want them to know something else than highway cafeteria food,” he said during one such class this week.

Nestled in the plush burgundy-velvet furnishings of the restaurant facing a central Paris park, two dozen primary-schoolers and headmistress Chantal Bertheuil sat in rapt attention as a bevy of waiters trotted in and out with platters prepared for them that morning by no less than 22 cooks.

Conducting operations from the floor of Napoleon’s onetime favourite feeding-spot stood Martin, a slight, curly-haired, self-taught cook of 50 who won his three-star Michelin rating seven years ago.

”I don’t want anyone to start until everyone’s served,” he said.

Among the multi-course extravaganza of foodie delights — including a good half-dozen child-friendly desserts — was a dome-shaped carrot and orange-flower puree, a sea-bream, sumac powder and salted-lemon pastry, and radishes stuffed with olives and capers.

Asked to nibble on the gourmet creations one by one, the kids suggested the carrot puree might be a kind of Dutch cheese, the pastry a savoury samoosa or an Asian spring roll.

”Smell! Taste!” Martin said. ”Feel the texture, is it hard or soft, does it melt or is it chewy, is it sweet or is it sour?”

”A single dish,” he went on, ”can be crunchy and soft, sweet and salty, come with several distinct flavours.”

As well as wheeling out the unexpected — such as chocolate cream flaked with real gold and perfumed with church incense, or biscuits flavoured with Asian galangal spice — Martin also focused the children’s attention on everyday fare such as bread, cheese and water.

He asked them to try three glasses of water and explained how Evian mineral water, because of its extra minerals, had more taste than Vittel water, while the slightly odd tang of Paris tap water was the bleach.

Likewise he pointed out the different textures between an industrial loaf of bread and a crustier country-style loaf with a sharper, more acidic aftertaste.

”An aftertaste like this is called ‘lingering on the palate’,” he said. ”Remember this phrase, you can use it for wines or cheeses.”

And the proper term to describe the texture of nougat was ”chewy” rather than ”sticky”.

Martin, who took over the kitchen at Le Grand Vefour in 1991, said he has been teaching children about taste for the past 20 years, taking a class on once a year for three successive years.

”I give them pointers and you can really see them evolve over the years,” he said.

”But it’s not just about food, about learning what’s on your plate. It’s also about asking questions, wondering how things are made.”

Headmistress Bertheuil, who not long ago took the same children off to a master butcher to witness the slaughter of a lamb, noted: ”Kids nowadays need to learn about where their food comes from, and how it gets there. But that is true of many things today.” – AFP

 

AFP