Hélène Darroze, Alain Ducasse, Guy Savoy… Many French chefs have paid tribute to Michel Guérard, chef at the restaurant Les Près d’Eugénie in the Landes, who died in the night from Sunday to Monday at the age of 91. He had held three Michelin stars since 1977.
The world of French gastronomy is mourning the death of Michel Guérard. Since the announcement of his death on Monday, August 19, many chefs have paid tribute to the 91-year-old French chef at the head of the restaurant Les Près d’Eugénie in the Landes and three Michelin stars since 1977.
“He was my first mentor,” he wrote on Instagram Alain Ducasse. “It was at his side that I learned the essential values of the profession of chef. He was a pioneer and the benevolent inspiration of an entire generation.”
“A precursor of slimming cuisine”
Chef Gérald Passedat, head of the restaurant Le Petit Nice in Marseille, also deplored the loss of his “mentor”, “an immense chef, pioneer of slimming cuisine, erudite, sensitive visionary”.
“One of the pillars of great French cuisine has disappeared. An iconic character, he enlightened and inspired us all. Bravo, the artist,” summed up Georges Blanc, three stars in the Michelin Guide since 1981 in Vonnas (Ain) on Instagram.
“Admiring tribute to Michel Guérard, immense poet of gastronomy,” wrote Guy Savoy, a two-star chef in Paris, on Instagram.
“An outstanding creator”
In the columns of Paris Match, chef Hélène Darroze, who has six Michelin stars, also expressed her emotion at the loss of the man she considered her “absolute reference”.
“I am overwhelmed because Michel Guérard has always been a part of my life. (…) Strangely, even if I never worked with Mr. Guérard, I always considered him my mentor, my absolute reference. I had an immense tenderness and infinite admiration for him,” she assures.
“Thank you chef for these moments of cooking, your kindness and benevolence”, Cyril Lignac soberly declared on Instagram while the chef Pierre Gagnaire paid tribute to the “last great chef of what was new cuisine in the 80s”.
Another reaction, that of the starred chef Marc Veyrat. With the Dauphine Liberatedthe Haute-Savoie chef paid tribute to the memory of his “spiritual father”: “He was an outstanding creator. He was my spiritual father. He represented a large part of our heritage (…) He was an incredible person, who loved the land so much. His influence on cuisine will remain etched for eternity.”
“I always thought that if cuisine had been Nobelisable, Michel Guerard would undoubtedly have been the first winner,” also declared chef Michel Sarran. on Instagram.
And to add: “This great, extraordinary man who enjoyed juggling words as brilliantly as he did food was also a mountain of humanity, kindness and humility. He gave another dimension to our profession and many chefs, including myself, owe him a lot. I am so proud to have been able to work alongside him at Prés d’Eugenie but my heart is in tears. My mentor has gone.”
“Innovative vision of cooking”
On Instagram, chef Anne-Sophie Pic, who has a total of eleven Michelin stars across her seven restaurants, also mourned Michel Guérard’s death. “We are so sad today to learn of your departure. (…) Thank you for giving our profession your elegance, your culture, your vision of cuisine. Be calm, we all have within us a part of your legacy, your innovative vision of cuisine that we will never forget.”
“Michel Guérard is a legend, the legacy he leaves to French and world cuisine is immense. (…) His kindness, his benevolence and his cuisine will remain engraved in my memory”, affirmed the chef Jean-François Piège on Instagram.
“He made a successful start, with humility. Let’s stay happy! That’s what Michel Guérard has constantly passed on to us. (…) When I started cooking in the 14th arrondissement and then at the Comptoir du Palais in Paris, he came to see me. He was curious about everything and everyone. (…) For me, a guy from the South West, he showed the way because he became an immense chef without crushing anyone, without any unnecessary struggle,” confided Yves Camdeborde, leader of the bistronomy movement in the newspaper South West.
