{"id":167239,"date":"2018-06-16T21:54:17","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T01:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=167239"},"modified":"2018-06-16T21:54:17","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T01:54:17","slug":"new-doc-trails-chef-ducasse-on-global-quest-for-new-flavours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/06\/16\/new-doc-trails-chef-ducasse-on-global-quest-for-new-flavours\/","title":{"rendered":"New doc trails chef Ducasse on global quest for new flavours"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"For<\/a>
For Ducasse, 61, that seems to be a fundamental truth \u2014 and a driving force. The man oversees a veritable empire, with 27 restaurants across the globe, and 19 Michelin stars among them. (Photo By Bruno Cordioli for CIBVS – Alain Ducasse :: Identit\u00e0 Golose, CC BY 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2014 In the new documentary \u201cThe Quest of Alain Ducasse,\u201d the esteemed French chef steps off a small plane in the middle of the Gobi desert in Mongolia. As he stands pondering the vast emptiness, a motorcycle suddenly appears, as if out of nowhere, carrying two men. The bemused chef chuckles: \u201cThere are customers everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ducasse, 61, that seems to be a fundamental truth \u2014 and a driving force. The man oversees a veritable empire, with 27 restaurants across the globe, and 19 Michelin stars among them. From his first three-star triumph as a young upstart at the Louis XV in Monaco, to his haute-healthy, no-meat Paris eatery at the Plaza Athenee, to his recently opened restaurant at the opulent Versailles palace, where a special royal dinner costs 1,000 euros, he seems on a nonstop mission to expand. In September, he’ll open a new restaurant on an electric boat floating along the Seine.<\/p>\n

There was a time when Ducasse, who grew up on a farm in southwestern France, spent most of his hours behind the stove. Now, he seems to spend most of them in the air, crisscrossing the globe, tasting new menus, seeking new flavours. In an interview at a New York gathering marking the release of the film, he politely deflected a question about how many frequent flyer miles he’s amassed. But he did remark that he’d recently travelled for 20 hours to the mountains of Peru, just to taste a cup of coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very good coffee,\u201d he noted, with typically deadpan delivery.<\/p>\n

His constant travels, as portrayed by director Gilles de Maistre, have a very different goal than, say, those of the late Anthony Bourdain, who sought to explain cultures to his viewers through food. For Ducasse, the goal is to gain inspiration for his restaurants. He gets much of it from Japan. \u201cIt’s my only quest,\u201d he says in the film, sampling a heavenly slice of fresh tuna in Kyoto, \u201ctasting things that I haven’t tried yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foodies \u2014 especially those with an affinity for haute cuisine with a healthy twist \u2014 will no doubt find much to enjoy in the documentary, which follows Ducasse around the world for about two years leading up to the opening of Ore, his Versailles eatery (it’s in select theatres and also on video on demand).<\/p>\n

Director de Maistre says it took him quite some time to convince Ducasse to do the film. \u201cAfter a while, he got used to me,\u201d he says. His goal, he adds, was simple: \u201cI wanted to see the world through his eyes, his vision of gastronomy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics have noted that the film does suffer, though, from narration that occasionally sounds adoring \u2014 even worshipful. Some viewers might also have wanted more of a look at Ducasse the man, away from his work. We never see his family, or what he does in his spare time \u2014 if he has any. There is, however, one poignant personal scene when the chef reflects upon the most harrowing moment of his life, a 1984 small plane crash in the Alps that killed several colleagues. Only Ducasse survived. \u201cIt wasn’t my time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The film illustrates Ducasse’s exalted position in France \u2014 we see him hobnobbing with more than one French president \u2014 but we also see him in jeans in the garden, picking raspberries or tasting a raw zucchini. Despite his poker face, he can be funny: A good meal, he tells a gardener, depends on who you’re with. \u201cIf you’re not in good company, it’s better to be alone with a good vegetable.\u201d<\/p>\n

We see a man who can lose his patience, for example when he sees a staffer serve pre-poured champagne, rather than pouring in front of the guest \u2014 he admits that sends him \u201cinto hysterics.\u201d And we see someone who’s clearly competitive: after inaugurating a high-end cream puff kiosk at a Tokyo rail station, he buys a competitor’s cream puff elsewhere for comparison, tasting it back in his hotel room.<\/p>\n

According to the film, Ducasse \u201cis said to have a perfect palate, as others have perfect pitch.\u201d Ducasse himself is much more prosaic about his gifts. Being a great chef is, he says, \u201c95 per cent hard work and five per cent talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

We also see a socially conscious side of Ducasse, cooking a meal for locals in Brazil from unused leftovers at the Olympic village, and visiting the cooking school he’s created for underprivileged youth in the Philippines. Perhaps the most entertaining behind-the-scenes food moment comes at the sturgeon farm near Shanghai where Ducasse gets his caviar. If you’ve never seen a sturgeon the size of a minivan being sliced open to display its glistening eggs, it’s worth your while.<\/p>\n

With his elevated status in French cuisine, you’d think Ducasse might look down on the celebrity chef phenomenon, with reality shows and TV cooking competitions. He says he doesn’t. \u201cIt’s good for our industry,\u201d he said at the recent New York gathering.<\/p>\n

Standing next to him, one can’t help but pose that question you’d want to ask any celebrated chef: what he eats at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe vegetables from the garden,\u201d he replied. \u201cLow protein, low sugar. No wine.\u201d It fits in with his all-around philosophy, he said: \u201cWe must eat better, and less.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 In the new documentary \u201cThe Quest of Alain Ducasse,\u201d the esteemed French chef steps off a small …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":167240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51967],"class_list":["post-167239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle","tag-alain-ducasse","mauthors-jocelyn-noveck","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}