“I have carte blanche on my menu proposals but the economic constraints are present”continues the head of the Quai d’Orsay. “”We no longer serve lobster or noble products “underlines Thierry Charrier. We must control the costs “. It is also the image of the institution: the fall of the president of the National Assembly in the summer of 2019, for having eaten lobster with his friend, is still in the spirits.
Times have changed: in the cooks of the French Republic of Guillaume Gomez (2019, Glénat), Jean-Robert Pitte, president of the French Mission of Heritage and Food Cultures, recalls that until the 1960s, the menus of state dinners at the Élysée or Versailles were published by the big daily newspapers. “”No one was offended, quite the contrary, costs that these ceremonies have occasioned “. Today, he said, some sneer “, while The benefits of a warm and generous diplomatic meeting are incommensurate with the expenses incurred “.
But exceptions remain. “”Jean-Yves Le Drian signed for 11 billion euros in Rafale after a good lunch where, yes, we had served the petrus at 1000 euros per bottle “, specifies Thierry Charrier.
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Spirits heat up, dishes cool
The chefs, who sometimes have to set up a reception for 80 people the same evening, must also juggle the international calendar. Nicolas Bernardé, then pastry chef at the Quai d’Orsay, remembers that he was “Preparing hundreds of Breton shortbreads for the fig on September 11, 2001. They were to be taken the next day to the French Embassy in New York. Everything has been canceled“.
Thierry Charrier recalls an official dinner in 1996, delayed by the late arrival of the Chinese Prime Minister, angry by an allusion to the human rights provided for in the speech of Alain Juppé. In the kitchen, it was the fight-fight.
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Political news also imposes its requirements. During the lunch in Matignon recently organized between François Bayrou and Nicolas Sarkozy, cold for years, Romain Beseron sought, and found he assures, the dish that could help bring the two men together. But he will say no more: “We must be like our houses, discreet“.
