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On the stage of a large Parisian theatre, chef David Kinch, of Manresa restaurant in Palo Alto, California, arranges Pacific abalone slices over yuzu-scented raw-milk jelly in a Japanese lacquer bowl. A few steps away, jazz legend Wynton Marsalis watches before lifting his trumpet and playing an improvisation that reflects the mood and tone of the food his friend is preparing. The music is cool, Asian, introspective and elegant, just like the dish. A packed auditorium of foodies, chefs and food writers listens, entranced, as it follows each move the men make on a giant screen above the stage. Clearly, this is no ordinary cooking demonstration.
"Paris des Chefs is a three-day food festival with a difference," says Andrea Petrini, an Italian food writer living in France. Responsible for scouting many of the cooking talents from around the globe, he also serves as one of the event's two presenters. "Our idea," he says, "is to pair each of the 24 featured chefs with a creative person of their choosing: artist, musician, designer, architect, filmmaker, ad man or winemaker. The chefs and their chosen partners give 45-minute presentations with results that take our understanding of food way beyond recipe demos."
David Kinch's abalone dish
Brazilian chef Alex Atala giving his presentation
One of the Campana brothers working with Atala's pulled sugar candy
Fulvio Pierangelini (left) and Massimiliano Fuksas
Pierangelini cooking his mullets
Pierangelini shows the difference between the cooked scaled (left) and unscaled fish
Pierangelini's finished mullet dish
Architect Fuksas' building design with skin-like roof
Blaine Wetzel shows the giant mollusk, geoduck, to the audience Wetzel peels and slices the geoduck into a broth
Wetzel's finished geoduck dish
Wetzel beats the drum during Gene Tagaban's eagle dance
Richard Haughton's photo of a Japanese deer shown during Mikael Jonsson's presentation
Jonsson skinning the deer on stage as Haughton takes photographs
Haughton's photographs are shown as Jonsson prepares the meat dish
Jonsson's dish of deer loin carpaccio and brains
Enrico Crippa
Crippa shows presenter Andrea Petrini one of his food slabs
Valerio Berruti paints on one of the slabs
Some of the finished, decorated and edible slabs
Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez with adman Gonzalo Figari
Martinez preparing an Amazon fish
Presenter and food writer Andrea Petrini
David Kinch's abalone dish
Brazilian chef Alex Atala giving his presentation
One of the Campana brothers working with Atala's pulled sugar candy
Fulvio Pierangelini (left) and Massimiliano Fuksas
Pierangelini cooking his mullets
Pierangelini shows the difference between the cooked scaled (left) and unscaled fish
Pierangelini's finished mullet dish
Architect Fuksas' building design with skin-like roof
Blaine Wetzel shows the giant mollusk, geoduck, to the audience Wetzel peels and slices the geoduck into a broth
Wetzel's finished geoduck dish
Wetzel beats the drum during Gene Tagaban's eagle dance
Richard Haughton's photo of a Japanese deer shown during Mikael Jonsson's presentation
Jonsson skinning the deer on stage as Haughton takes photographs
Haughton's photographs are shown as Jonsson prepares the meat dish
Jonsson's dish of deer loin carpaccio and brains
Enrico Crippa
Crippa shows presenter Andrea Petrini one of his food slabs
Valerio Berruti paints on one of the slabs
Some of the finished, decorated and edible slabs
Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez with adman Gonzalo Figari
Martinez preparing an Amazon fish
Presenter and food writer Andrea Petrini
This year the event was held on the Left Bank in the Maison de la Mutualité in the 5th arrondissement, a vast Art Déco building with a theatre that has recently been refurbished by architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Paris des Chefs is open to the public which, for a nominal fee, can watch the presentations and visit food stands and attend cooking lessons taking place in other parts of the building. French is the primary language.
Chefs from each generation
The chefs range from established international stars such as Alain Passard, Albert Adrià, Alex Atala, Daniel Patterson and Fulvio Pierangelini to the best known of the younger generation, including Alexandre Gauthier, Enrico Crippa, Anne-Sophie Pic, Yannick Alléno, and Björn Frantzén. Up-and-coming chefs include Virgilio Martinez from Peru, Bertrand Grébaut and David Toutain from Paris, and Sean Brock from Charleston, S.C. Here are few of the highlights.
Brazilian star chef Alex Atala, of D.O.M. in São Paulo kicked the event off with a diverting creative exercise. He teamed up with the design duo Fernando and Humberto Campana, and while images flashed of their multimedia work -- from buildings to chairs to shoes -- Atala gave the brothers simple pulled-sugar candy, like taffy, with which to make something. "This candy, of sugar and coconut milk, is usually given to children to keep them occupied," Atala laughed as the three grappled with a sticky white taffy that never quite seemed to harden. Atala is known for his pioneering work with the ingredients and culinary customs of the Amazon. Atala's concept was one of the festival's simplest and most creative. "The Amazon is mysterious even for Brazilians," he says, "but sugar is available to everyone."
Skin, scales and architecture
The theme for the festival chefs this year was "skin." Fulvio Pierangelini, one of Italy's most revered chefs, illustrated the concept graphically. He took two small rock mullets, removed the scales from one, then cooked them both in the same way in a pan with olive oil. The fish whose scales had been removed fell apart when skinned after cooking, while the unscaled fish maintained its structure, its juices hermetically sealed by the scales. "The skin with scales acts like a natural sous vide," Pierangelini said. Meanwhile, Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas showed images of his work: buildings whose skin was a critical part of their structure. "Façades are like skin," he explained. "They can be used to hide things, but also to allow luminosity."
Of the new entries, 25-year-old Blaine Wetzel offered an original take on sustainability. The talented chef from Washington state cooks at Willows Inn on Lummi Island between Seattle and Vancouver. He trained with René Redzepi at Noma in Copenhagen, and his experience of Redzepi's ground-breaking work with wild and local foods fit right into the locavore ethic of the inn's owner, Riley Starks, whom he met through Craig's List.
Geoducks and eagle dances
"I share many ideas with René Redzepi, but whereas Noma's cuisine philosophy is modern, ours is more primal," Wetzel explained. He appeared with Gene Tagaban, a native Indian actor from Lummi, whose storytelling and spectacular eagle dance thrilled the Paris audience. Wetzel's dish centered on the oversized, phallic-looking geoduck, a giant clam-like mollusk that lives two yards below ground. He skins and slices the flesh while the geoduck is still alive, and serves it with a purée of wild winter cress and toasted pine nuts at his 27-seat restaurant. "We're so isolated there," he said of island life, "we have to be self-sustaining."
It would take three days to describe all the presentations. Mikael Jonsson, of Hedone in London, made his point about sourcing quality ingredients by bringing a whole Japanese deer carcass from the U.K., where the breed has naturalized in some areas. He skinned the animal right on stage before preparing a dish from its loin and brain. This performance was recorded, live, by photographer Richard Haughton, who darted around the animal taking abstract pictures of the meaty textures.
Enrico Crippa, of Piazza Duomo in Piedmont, used kitchen waste -- including potato skins and bread heels -- to create slabs like large tiles on which artist Valerio Berruti painted icons in real time.
Virgilio Martinez of Central Restaurante in Lima, gave a fascinating exposition of Peruvian indigenous ingredients, some of which don't yet have foreign names. His stage partner, Gonzalo Figari runs the successful D6 ad agency in Madrid and kept us amused with images of its whacky, irreverent campaigns. The duo brought an entertaining finale to this multi-cultural gastronomic festival.
Zester Daily contributor Carla Capalbo is an award-winning food, wine and travel writer who has been based in Italy for more than 20 years. Her book, "Collio: Fine Wines and Foods From Italy's Northeast" recently won the André Simon prize for best wine book, and her website is carlacapalbo.com.
Top photo: Wynton Marsalis plays while David Kinch cooks at Paris des Chefs.
Photo and slide show credits: Carla Capalbo
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