Several years ago, while studying in Alliance Francaise, our instructor joked that the French are the Filipinos of Europe—they’re both noisy, always arguing, and seldom obey the rules. He might as well have added that they both love good food.

On March 21, the convergence of both nationalities will be on the table as the Philippines participates in Goût de France, a worldwide celebration of French gastronomy.

Launched in 2015 by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and chef Alain Ducasse, Goût de France “aims to highlight the culinary tradition of France, which values high-quality, innovative and environmentally responsible cuisine, while promoting France as a prime destination for tourists.”

Participating are 150 countries, as well as 1,500 chefs who had been screened and chosen by a committee of experts led by Ducasse. The idea is for chefs worldwide to serve on the same day a traditional French menu consisting of aperitif, cold starter, hot starter, fish or shellfish, meat or poultry, and a French cheese—accompanied by French wines and concluded with a dessert.

In the Philippines, 10 chefs and restaurants to serve a special French menu on March 21 are: Julian Koeberl (L’Aubergine), Michel Herbert (Le Bistro d’Agathe), Alexander Tanco (Bizu), Marc Aubry (Champetre), Cyril Soenen (Impressions), Kevin Endaya (Lemuria), Justin Baradas (Enderun’s Restaurant 101), Denis Vecchiato and Paul Cottanceau-Pocard (Spiral at Sofitel), Pierre Cornelis (Hotel Benilde’s Vatel) and Adrien Guerrey (La Maison Rose in Cebu).

Cuisine country

France is known worldwide for popularizing the concept of haute cuisine, and is responsible for creating such dishes as bouillabaisse, coq au vin, ratatouille and quiche Lorraine.

It was French chef Marie-Antoine Carême who developed the basic mother sauces used in many of today’s dishes: espagnole, velouté and béchamel.

So valuable is French gastronomy that it has been included in Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2010.

But despite its reputation for being complex and costly, French cuisine is really simple, said French Ambassador Thierry Mathou. He comes from a small town in France, where the food’s emphasis is on the freshness of the ingredients.

But he added that French cuisine is adaptable to new products and techniques. The ingredients don’t have to be purely French to be called French food.

The menu to be served by Marc Aubry in Champetre, for example, includes strawberry gratin made with Baguio strawberries. Restaurant 101’s brie beignets contains a papaya compote. Kevin Endaya of Lemuria has Philippine fruit tart with calamansi sherbet, while dessert at Le Bistro d’Agathe is a layer cake with fresh local mangoes.

Majority of the courses, however, will still revolve around traditional French dishes prepared with a contemporary twist. Spiral’s dover sole meuniere, for instance, is accompanied by cured smoked tomato caviar, caper leaves, lime malto, onion gel and onion oil.

L’Aubergine will serve sous vide cooked duck breast and liver with hazelnut coated potato noodles and cherry jus.

On the other hand, Bizu’s salmon confit will have sides of squid ink risotto and lemon curd.

But in Impressions, Cyril Soenen will serve the classic bouillabaisse as a froth, to be enhanced with hazelnut oil, mashed edamame, squid ink tuile and chorizo chips.

Some of the other dishes were served at a press lunch in the Alliance Francaise. La Maison Rose, the only restaurant from Cebu to join Goût de France, will have grilled duck liver with ginger sauce and homemade spiced bread as well as lemon tart for dessert. Vatel’s canapés will be a trio of oysters Rockefeller, duck rillettes on crouton and grapes rolled in blue cheese with pistachio nuts.

And just for good measure, Spiral will offer l’opera cake and tarte tatin, a rich confection of caramelized apples, dulce de leche, Filo pastry biscuit, topped with caramel tuile, shortbread crumbs and mascarpone Chantilly.

Bigger event

A bigger global event will be launched next year, said Mathou.

The French food festival will also feature French fashion, cinema, music.

There are plans to open a French market in Manila, where cooking demonstrations will be held and all kinds of French products will be sold.

“We want you to know more about France through our cuisine and gastronomy,” said Mathou. “We can develop mutual understanding through them.”

Not that the world isn’t already sold on the merits of French food. Of the 83 million foreign tourists in France last year, more than one-third cited food and wine as reasons for their visit.

If last year’s Goût de France was a success, the participation of the Philippines this year promises to be even better.