Mathieu Viannay: "Great Heritage Cuisine is Ultra-Modern!"

WE IMAGINE YOU AS A GREAT READER OF OLD CULINARY GRIMOIRES...

Yes! Old cookbooks have always interested me. It was actually my uncle who gave me the first edition of Physiology of Taste by Brillat Savarin when I started my culinary studies. I dove into it; it obviously fascinated and marked me. Subsequently, I charted my own course with my choices around great chefs like Lucien Tendret. And then, when I decided to compete for the title of MOF, I naturally immersed myself in the essence of French cuisine by reading Escoffier.

BEYOND THE PERFORMANCE AND THE MOF TITLE YOU WON IN 2004, WHAT DID IT BRING YOU?

It nourished me! And I also forged the conviction that this cuisine, with its great traditional heritage, is also and always an ultra-modern cuisine. For example, when we talk today about Terre-Mer, we realize that this notion has almost always existed. When we rightly claim that product-driven cuisine is the pathway to contemporary cooking, which almost erases the chef behind the cauliflower or leek, we also find it in culinary literature… Our work constantly involves reinterpretation.

ISN'T IT FRUSTRATING?

Never! I am always in love with my job, with what I do… I never take as much pleasure as when I cook for friends, whether in a restaurant or at home; and putting on the menu dishes that seem ancient, very simple, but that incorporate a tiny personal touch, like what I’m doing now with a potato millefeuille enhanced with a caviar condiment. And I still have this incredible pleasure of slicing an Oreiller de la Belle Aurore, just as one might read the recipe in old cookbooks.

NOSE

"The book by Patrick Süskind (Perfume, 1985, Ed. Fayard) left a big impression on me. I am very sensitive to smells, both bad and good – I can smell a rotting product from thirty meters away! Perfume plunged me into the heart of olfactory travel; this literary adventure has ultimately influenced my journey as a cook."

ZERO BOOK

"I have never published a book, and I probably never will! In fact, I’m not very autobiographical, my-life-my-work (laughs). And often, I think: it’s nice to make beautiful cookbooks, with beautiful photos and recipes, but I’d be curious to know how many times these books are actually opened…"

COMIC BOOK

"I preferred to make a comic book, released in 2015 and titled 12 Rue Royale – the address of La Mère Brazier. It’s funny and playful, with gourmet challenges to overcome. Doing things well without taking ourselves too seriously…"

STREET

"The cookbook I open most often is actually a travel book: Street Food, by Lyonnaise photographer and cook Jean-François Mallet. The images are stunning, from the markets of Thailand, Vietnam, or Indonesia. Each one makes you want to eat and cook! It’s a very large book; it’s in my living room, and I flip through it often. I love the idea of going to the street to see what people eat.

By Mathilde Converso