Wednesday 13 November 2013

Les Saveurs du Palais (2012)





Haute cuisine or home cooking ?

The other day we watched the film Haute Cuisine from 2012. It is unusual for a film in the XXI. Century not to be violent, have no one killed, no hyperactive actions and the love story is not between people.



The original French title "Les Saveurs du Palais" means "The tastes of the palace". The two English meanings of the word taste both apply to the film's content. The actual flavour of a dish served and the life philosophy of those preparing it.

It is based on a true story of president Francois Mitterrand, who hires a personal cook for himself to bring back to his daily life in the Élysée Palace the tastes of his childhood.
In the film, the president calls the new cook - Hortense - and instead of ten minutes they talk for one and a half hours about tastes, memories of grandmother's cooking, best ingredients, best quality eating. He explains how he sends back the sugar rose decoration on the desserts each time they come unwanted. It turns out that his favourite book in his childhood was a cookbook, which he starts quoting by heart.

Hortense creates the daily menu, a piece of art where all the tastes fit together and become one whole unique experience. 


  
                                                                                                      
The authenticity of her cooking is not a visual art but her individual way of reproducing tastes by using old recipes, choosing ingredients without any cost and geographical boundary within France. 






















She travels to the countryside to get the best flavoured, sized and shaped mushrooms, she also has her own small truffle plant. She asks the president to have the standard raw food supply process changed to her own best quality choice.








 








At one point in the film, they are comparing the simpleness and fabulousness of a cheese dish that has a personal touch with the elegant but impersonal looks and tastes of an haute cuisine dessert dish.

This made me remember my grandmother’s and mother’s generation, who did not know what processed food was, they cooked what was seasonal and fresh several times each week, and they kept on saying that the more “imperfect” the food looks the better taste it has. This meant that traditional cooking is best under small scale home cooking conditions.

Back to the film, having been lucky to be in Périgord in France once - where Hortense actually comes from -, and having spent time eating in good small restaurants, I understand the film's message about French home cooking versus haute cuisine better.






 



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