Paul Bocuse
French chef and leading figure of nouvelle cuisine
Biography
Paul Bocuse (Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, 11 February 1926 – Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, 20 January 2018) was a French chef who left a deep mark on gastronomy in the second half of the twentieth century. He is considered one of the leading figures of nouvelle cuisine, the movement that in the 1960s and 1970s lightened classic French cooking and put the emphasis on fresh produce and carefully judged cooking times. His name is linked to the idea that market-driven cooking, when executed well, could match the refinement of the grand dining rooms. From his restaurant on the outskirts of Lyon he drew food lovers from around the world, and he became identified with the defence of regional French cooking against the uniformity of international menus.
He was born in 1926 in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, about ten kilometres north of Lyon, the son of Georges and Irma Bocuse, in a family with a long association with cooking. His working life began early and in the middle of the Second World War. In 1942, at sixteen, he was taken on as an apprentice by the chef Claude Maret at the Restaurant de la Soierie in Lyon, where he learned to work within the tight supply conditions of the period and the black market that shaped much of the kitchen life of those years. Two years later, at eighteen, he volunteered for the Resistance led by General Charles de Gaulle and joined the 1st Free Brigade. He was seriously wounded in Alsace, then fought alongside American troops and took part in the Victory Parade in Paris in 1945.
Back in Lyon he resumed his training with Eugénie Brazier, a celebrated cook who had earned three Michelin stars in 1933 and was one of the great figures of the city's kitchens, known as the mères lyonnaises. With her he cooked, but he also worked in the garden, looked after livestock and helped with the upkeep of the premises, a broad education for a young man who hoped to run his own kitchen one day. He later worked at Lucas Carton, a prestigious restaurant on the Place de la Madeleine in Paris, under the chef Gaston Richard, and there he formed a lasting friendship with the brothers Jean and Pierre Troisgros. In the 1950s the three of them worked as a team at La Pyramide in Vienne, near Lyon, where they absorbed the refinement of Fernand Point and Paul Mercier, whom they remembered for his generosity and unusual character. Point, a master of classic cooking, was also the first person to whom Bocuse dedicated a book.
Recognition came in the 1960s. In 1961 he was named the best cook in France and won his first Michelin star, and the same year he received the title Meilleur Ouvrier de France. In 1962 he renovated the family restaurant and earned a second star, and in 1965 he won the third. There was, however, a problem with the name. In 1921 his paternal grandfather had sold a shop that carried the Bocuse name, which prevented its use for the restaurant. Bocuse chose to rename the establishment Paul Bocuse, and that name became inseparable from his career. The restaurant that followed, L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, served for decades a traditional French menu.
In 1975 he received the Légion d'honneur from President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing at the Élysée Palace. For the occasion he prepared a truffle soup that is still served at his restaurant under the name Soupe V.G.E., after the president's initials. In 1987 he created the Bocuse d'Or competition, which became one of the most prestigious contests for professional chefs and is often described as an unofficial world championship. His students are another part of his legacy. Among them is the Austrian Eckart Witzigmann, who brought Germany's first three-star Michelin restaurant to the top of the guide. In 2004 the Institut Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance was founded to bring together students from different countries for training in Lyon.
The last years of his life brought international honours and changes at his main restaurant. In 2020 L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges lost the third star it had held for more than half a century, a decision that stirred debate in French culinary circles. Bocuse died of Parkinson's disease in 2018, in the room above his restaurant where he had been born. His son Jérôme asked that there be no national tribute, saying that his father would have preferred a simple farewell. His legacy lives on in Lyon's kitchens, in the competition that bears his name and in the memory of the many cooks who trained with him. As an ambassador of modern French cuisine, his influence reached well beyond France and beyond his profession.
Key contributions
- A driving force behind nouvelle cuisine, with lighter market-based cooking built on fresh produce.
- L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, a restaurant that held its third Michelin star for more than half a century and became an international reference.
- Soupe V.G.E., a truffle soup created in 1975 for a state dinner at the Élysée Palace and still served at his restaurant.
- The Bocuse d'Or competition, founded in 1987, one of the most prestigious contests for professional chefs.
- Training of many chefs, including Eckart Witzigmann, and the founding of the Institut Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance in 2004.
- The book La cuisine du marché (1976), which spread his view of market-based French cooking.