French Revolution

A group of talented chefs are cooking up a new, irreverent recipe for French cuisine: Le Fooding.

By Violaine Charest-Sigouin

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“No way,” I say as I take my first step out of the taxi. The rain hasn’t let up, and even though it’s only 7:15 p.m. (they did tell me to be here at 7), a huge crowd has gathered at the entrance of Village Saint-Paul in the trendy Marais district. For better or worse, I begin to weave my way through the crowd with my umbrella, discovering a new extreme sport. Finally, I burst through to the courtyard.

It’s the Semaine du Fooding, and Village Saint-Paul has been transformed into a kind of open-air gourmet central. Each night, a chef from one of Paris’ venerable palatial hotels descends to the street to offer his version of popular favourites like hot dogs or crepes – with an haute cuisine twist. This evening, Jean-François Piège, the star chef of the Hôtel de Crillon, is filling the orders at a makeshift restaurant. It’s like an upscale street fair, with all the vendors hawking food and drink to “bobos” (bourgeois bohemians) and families.

Started six years ago by food critics Alexandre Cammas and Emmanuel Rubin, Le Fooding set out to create a mini-revolution in French cuisine. The English-sounding word that is oh-so-French in its coinage is explained on page 4 of the dictionary Fooding, le dico : “The word literally connects food with feeling. It’s the art of eating and cooking, at your home or at a restaurant, with an open spirit, one that appreciates novelty and quality, that shuns boredom and that takes the time to savour simple foods.”

As I sample a tiny crepe with caramelized apple, Rubin explains how the movement was born out of a general disenchantment with French food, which had become stifled under the weight of tradition. “What has really been missing from French cuisine for far too many years is a sense of humour,” he says. With spontaneous and playful events like the Semaine du Fooding, he and his partner attempted to popu­larize haute cuisine and bring back food’s primary function: to please.

So how do you put on a Fooding event? First you cover the floor of the Palais de Tokyo with Astroturf and set down gingham tablecloths and wicker baskets. Then you ask the cream of young Parisian society to sit on the ground and sample the creations, placed inside tiny fridges, of top chefs. You’ll soon have a smashing success on your hands, and people won’t be able to get enough. Although Le Fooding had some early naysayers, the most renowned chefs now want a taste of the action. “Six years ago, we were ignored and written off as just a group of snobby Parisians,” explains Rubin. “They gave us six days, then six weeks, then six months. Now we’ve been going for six years!”

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