France’s if not the world’s most celebrated chef, Paul Bocuse, died yesterday at the age of 91, following his battle with Parkinson’s disease. A chef and colleague close to the Bocuse family told the Agence France-Presse news agency that Paul Bocuse had passed away while in his famous three Michelin starred restaurant L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges near Lyon.
Photo: Jarle VinesFrench President Emmanuel Macron was one of the first to pay tribute, describing Paul Bocuse as the “incarnation of French cuisine”. Paul Bocuse rose to fame in the 1970s in part fuelled as a passionate advocate of nouvelle cuisine. “His name alone summed up French gastronomy in its generosity and respect for tradition but also its inventiveness,” the French president said.
Paul Bocuse’s restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, has had three Michelin stars since 1965 and he was named “chef of the century” by Michelin’s rival guide, the Gault-Millau, in 1989, and again by the Culinary Institute of America in 2011.
Paul Bocuse’s restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near LyonA larger than life personality in many ways, one of his most famous quotes came through an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2005. The focus of the interview was his lifestyle and in it he said:
“I adore women and we live too long these days to spend a whole life with only one. I work as if I will live to be 100, and I enjoy life as if the next day will be my last.”
The tributes to the man have been countless and have poured in across news media worldwide. If you are part of the chef community on twitter you could not have possibly missed the impact this man’s passing has made.
We will therefore leave the last words to one of his friends as he posted to twitter.