LYON
is suspended. “These show the link between medicine and food,” he explains. Among the centre’s many different
sections, there’s one that tells the story of the building’s medicinal history through artefacts such as jars of herbal remedies and antique microscopes. This, however, is the only section that feels like it belongs in a traditional museum. “We try not to use the word ‘museum’,” explains Florent. “It suggests stuffy exhibits gathering dust, when everything here is so interactive.” This is certainly true of the ‘Miam Miam!’
Above: Daniel Abdallah groom/doorman at Paul Bocuse’s L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges
Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie; ‘Miam Miam!’ section at Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie; chef Olivier Couvin, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges; Paul Bocuse’s Truffle Soup VGE
section, aimed at children. Here, the big, bold, colourful exhibits cover different aspects of food and health. For example, little visitors can step into a giant cooking pot for a game about smell, or disappear into a huge mirrored box that celebrates the joy of vegetables. Meanwhile, in the section titled ‘À Table!’,
I take a seat and am joined by characters from some of France’s most famous dining scenes — as featured in films such as La Grande Bouffe, Marie-Antoinette and Haute Cuisine. Each figure is projected onto one of several upright screens, positioned as though they were chairs around the table, and each seems to underline just how important ‘the table’ is to French society — so much so that in 2015, the ‘gastronomic meal of the French’ was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Then I learn from virtual stallholders in a digital market how much amazing produce Lyon has on its doorstep, from the Nyons olives of Drôme and nougat of Montélimar to Côte du Rhône wines, fish from La Dombes lakes and potatoes and walnuts from Dauphin. The city’s own culinary history is explored
in an area entitled ‘Bon Appétit’, where I learn about Paul Bocuse — or ‘Monsieur Paul’ as the locals call him — the grandfather of French cuisine whose restaurant, just outside Lyon, has held at least two Michelin stars since 1965. The exhibits do a good job of showing just how influential he was, both for his hearty French cuisine and his passionate belief that good, local ingredients are the key to great food. Video clips and clever displays explain how
The signature dish is placed in front of me and I grin like a goon in anticipation. It’s been served to guests since before I was born
he learned his trade from la mère Brazier, the most famous of the Mères Lyonnaises (‘mothers of Lyon’). From the 18th century onwards, these generations of domestic cooks put Lyon on the culinary map. Meanwhile, other displays show how the Michelin Guide was born out of the French tyre manufacturer’s desire to encourage motorists to travel further to dine — and in doing so, wear out more tyres. And I learn how the best restaurants on the famous N7 route, between Paris and Nice via Lyon, consequently
grew in notoriety, bringing fame to several dynasties of chefs, such as the Troisgros family, Jacques Pic and his daughter Anne-Sophie, and Régis and Jacques Marcon.
HITTING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES The focal point of the Bocuse section is the grand red stove on which he cooked for 25 years — his ‘piano de cuisson’ (cooking piano) as it’s called in French, a big red range with numerous plates. I can’t help but marvel at how many people it will have fed. And, while the great man died in January 2018, aged 91, his ethos lives on in his restaurants. So the following day, I visit the original, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, for lunch — and over the course of three and a half hours, the kitchen’s cooking pianos produce quite a tune. In the red-and-green painted villa, adorned
with murals of Bocuse, I take my seat among couples and groups of friends. While it seems remiss to be alone at this, the most prestigious of French tables, I soon begin to appreciate the freedom this gives me to absorb every exquisite detail, from the serene dining room adorned with artworks to the waltz of the waiters as they breeze between tables. Amid the hushed conversations, the clink of
glasses and chink of heavy cutlery, I savour the amuse-bouches, fluffy bread and impeccably chosen wines. Then comes the signature dish, placed in front of me with a knowing smile from my waiter, and I find myself grinning like a goon in anticipation. For this is a dish so important to the story of Bocuse that it’s been served to guests since before I was born. Truffle Soup VGE was created by Bocuse
in 1975 for the occasion of being awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, the French equivalent of a knighthood, and bears the name of the prime minister who awarded it: Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (VGE). Beneath its puff pastry lid I find some of France’s most esteemed ingredients: slivers of black truffle, cubes of melt-in-the-mouth foie gras, tiny squares of succulent beef and mirepoix vegetables, which I lift from the steaming broth made with Noilly Prat vermouth and an intense peppery beef stock. It’s too hot to eat, but I burn my lips in my urgency to savour every drop of its richness. More Bocuse classics follow and I’m full
long before the cheese trolly arrives, but I can’t resist it. Nor can I decline the dessert trolley, laden with such classics as rum baba and lemon mousse. I opt for the île flottante, a cloud of egg-white meringue, around which the waiter pours creme anglaise from a silver ladle. He then smiles as he places a side order
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