HungryChefs: StarChefs.com’s International Chefs Congress (Day Two)

Arthur Bovino — September 22, 2009

Daniel Boulud, Grant Achatz, Pierre Gagnaire and Ted Lee discussing modern cuisine at the ICC.

Day Two of StarChefs.com’s International Chefs Congress featured panelists including Johnny Iuzzini, Sam Mason, Alex Stupak, José Andrés and Masaharu Morimoto among others. Following are a few notes from the day’s last event on the main stage, a panel featuring Grant Achatz, Daniel Boulud and Pierre Gagnaire, “Modern Cuisine: A Generational Discussion.”

• Gagnaire on starting out as a young chef: “I’m always surprised to hear chefs say, ‘I love my job, it’s fantastic.’ At the beginning it wasn’t like that. The life was terrible for children, always late, not enough time, it was not my first choice to do that.”
• Gagnaire in response to Boulud’s assertment that he knew even starting out that he was an artist, “No, no, no, no, no. I’m a chef. To say I’m an artist I think is stupid. No it’s true, it’s pretentious.”
• Gagnaire on what would have been if he’d started in New York City: “I would have been swallowed up and not be who I am today.”
• Boulud, on American chefs versus French chefs: In America they take a lot of pride in the diversity of cuisines and the high level of these cuisines. “For the French it’s harder to reinvent yourself… there’s less fusioning. Less confusion, but less fusing.”
• An exchange between Boulud and Achatz about the bounty of modern techniques, chefs have gained during the past ten years:
  • Boulud: “Do you see yourself learning as much in the next ten years or do you think there has just been an avalanche of things coming to you?”
  • Achatz: “There was an avalanche of technique and that was the creative starting point or impetus for a lot of people. But I think now what we’re focusing on is the experience of eating, not so much performance art but how can we bring experience.”
• Achatz, on how he balances theatricality, fundamental flavor, taste and techique: “It always starts with food, no matter what we add to it. Now we’re plating directly on the table. We’re rolling out silicone tablecloths and plating right on the table. But if the food that you put on there doesn’t taste good then it doesn’t matter.”
• Achatz on what kind of restaurant he’d be excited to run: “Every quarter it would feature a different region of the world. So imagine for three months you would try to be a Japanese restaurant, you would try to be the best Japanese restaurant you could be. And then you would be a classic French restaurant. Maybe one time you would cook Escoffier for three months. Then you’d flip and do South American. For me and chefs that cook that would be fun. That would be hard.”

• What do you feel about American cuisine?
  • Gagnaire: “America is so big. New York is not Los Angeles and Los Angeles is not Nashville. But I feel that today, for example, people have come to understand food isn’t only the way to eat, it’s also a way to eat. It’s a culture. It’s an art. It’s not an art. It’s a way of life.”
  • Boulud: “American cuisine today is what the French brought here, what the Italians brought here, the Japanese, what the Spanish are bringing, all that to make the foundation. It should inspire a lot of chefs to look at their roots. I’ve been in America for quite a long time and I believe in the history of American cuisine but I’m still French. What Grant is doing is inspiring a cuisine that’s not exactly French or American but progressive and part of American cuisine as well…American cuisine today, it’s certainly showing a lot of inspiration, showing how far we can push the excellence in dining.”
  • Achatz: “It’s defined by not having definition or boundaries. We’re a melting pot. We’re so young in comparison. I feel like there are almost no rules, which can be good or bad.”