June 8, 2015

"It is a joke. It is nothing serious. Now it looks Japanese: large dishes, small portions, no taste, but very expensive."

Said Roger Vergé, in 1985, about what had happened to the nouvelle cuisine movement he had founded back in the 1960s. Originally, called "the cuisine of the sun" and "happy cuisine," it was based on the cooking of his mother and his Aunt Célestine, in Provence. It was "the antithesis of cooking to impress — rich and pretentious." It was "a light-hearted, healthy and natural way of cooking which combines the products of the earth like a bouquet of wild flowers from the garden."

 Roger Vergé died last week at the age of 85.

12 comments:

Rob said...

Not to be too nitpicky, but I believe Provençal is either a noun for the name of a language or an adjective. The place is Provence.

Bob R said...

Have to make a buerre blanc tonight in his honor.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks, Rob. Fixed.

Fernandinande said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fernandinande said...

I lived there for a few months and the food really sucked unless you're into semi-jerky meat. Eating out meant going to a Chinese place in Nice.

Jaq said...

I lived there for a few months and the food really sucked unless you're into semi-jerky meat.

I am sorry for you then. I spent only two weeks there, but I was working with locals and they took me to some fantastic places to eat. None of them in the core tourist areas. We ate there once and got an overcooked steak with frites, even though I ordered it "bloody". There was a little restaurant in Valbonne that was worth the trip by itself.

Ryan said...

I've never heard of this guy, and I'm somewhat of a foodie.

He is very wrong to say "it looks Japanese" as a derogatory term for meaning food expensive and having no taste. Japanese food in Japan is not that expensive and has incredible taste.

The article mentions his travels "from Africa and Jamaica to Mougins" but never says he went to Japan. He is a fucking prick if you ask me, may his soul rest in peace.

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Ryan said...

By the way, if he knows so much about food how come he died of diabetes?

Mary Beth said...

“It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.”
― Julia Child on nouvelle cuisine

Unknown said...

I loathe the term foodie. Like people don't like to eat. You might as well profess your love for breathing.

Bad Lieutenant said...

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