Taste week. Young people discover good local products

This week, Florian Michel is not going to be unemployed. He is one of the ambassadors committed to the 31^e edition of the Taste week which runs from October 12 to 18.

On this occasion, the chef will visit six schools in the Lorient region to give eighteen lessons in taste, i.e. 500 students, from kindergarten to CM2 » .

Cod tartare and mashed potatoes from Joël Robuchon

On the menu, seasonal fruits and vegetables, forgotten vegetables, their use in cooking, etc. Example with pumpkin, well in season: In sauce? In soup? Mashed ? Florian Michel, chef of Quimperlé (Finistère), says he is very attached respecting seasonal and local products. No good food without good products at the start, said Paul Bocuse » , the “pope of gastronomy”.

At the moment, the 42-year-old is working a lot cold cuts: sausages, dried or smoked duck breasts, which I am testing for the end of the year » . It also works, of course, mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and chanterelles » .

This Tuesday, with the children, we will learn to cut. As children are often resistant to fish, we will make a cod tartare, tangy with granny smith apple, cucumber and chives. » . Schoolchildren will taste the dish on site. With this Taste Week, each student leaves with a chef’s hat, a recipe booklet and my own technical sheets » .

Friday, in Saint-Thurien, the chef will work all morning with the school children the meal that will be served to them at noon in the canteen: Old-fashioned veal blanquette, with mashed potatoes from Joël Robuchon. What is special about this mash? It is very generous: 250 g of butter and 200 ml of whole milk for 1 kg of Touquet ratte … Then, local cheese, Tomme de Quimerc’h, produced 10 km away. And, for dessert, Michel Bras chocolate fondant , the great chef of Laguiole. The seventy-five children had to feast …

True enthusiast

Very involved in several associations and in transmission » , Florian Michel, after more than twenty years of cooking, is going to convert into teaching, into an apprenticeship training center (CFA).

As part of this Taste Week, he represents partner associations. Including the Culinary Academy of France, oldest culinary association in the world, founded in 1884, by Joseph Favre, who advocated for eating well » . It brings together the eighty greatest chefs, but also has 200 auditor members, including Fabien Michel. He is also part of the Cuisiniers de la République française, heads of the civil service, chaired by Guillaume Gomez, the chef of the Elysee kitchens.

He is also involved with Children of the Kitchen: A very recent association, which created the Bon festival, and wants to transmit taste education to children, with small cooking lessons » , explains the enthusiast.

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