Eva Longoria: Searching for France (2026) s01e07 Episode Script

♪♪
[ Engine revs ]
♪♪
-Have you ever dined
in a restaurant?
Cafe. Brasserie.
Maybe you've ordered an entree
off the menu.
Something sauteed. Soufflé.
Flambé.
Or maybe you were recommended
some wine via sommelier.
And for dessert,
maybe you've had a patisserie
or a crepe prepared by a chef.
I could go on and on,
but you get the point.
It's impossible to overstate
how much modern dining
owes to France.
-There goes the fries.
-I'm Eva Longoria,
and I'm a serious Francophile.
Santé.
Over the past 20 years,
my career as an actor
has brought me to France
time and again.
It's my home away from home.
But those trips were more
about work than joie de vivre.
[ Cheers ]
Now I want something deeper.
This is going to be
an adventure.
So I'm setting out
to really experience France.
-This is Cabernet Sauvignon.
-[ Gasps ] That's my favorite.
To savor its
world-celebrated cuisine
Wow!
and explore the country's
rich history.
Vive la France!
[ Laughs ]
Now I'm doing a deep dive into
how French gastronomy rose
to dominate the globe
and epitomized great food.
Before the strictness
of its culinary rule book
sowed the seeds of discontent.
-That changed the course
of French food history.
-But this is no
stuffy school lesson.
You know me. I love to eat.
This plate is paradise.
-Paradise.
-This story is told
in the form of an unforgettable,
classic seven-course meal.
-Seven was the magic number.
-Really?
And with the help
of my special guests.
How are you?
Not to mention
some top French chefs.
-[ Laughs ]
-[ Laughs ]
-We'll find out
how one man made French cuisine
the global gold standard.
-Escoffier is the most
celebrated chef of that period.
-Why some chefs rebelled
against this legacy.
-I wasn't born when someone
made up this rule, you know.
-So
-Why not change it?
And how France is still seen
as the mother of all cuisines.
Mothers make things better.
You need the mother
for all things.
-I'm sold.
-Sold.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
-I just can't stay away
from Paris.
Stretching along the banks
of the Seine,
much of the history
of French cuisine starts here.
Today I'm going on
a unique culinary voyage.
And when I say voyage,
I'm not kidding.
All aboard!
I'm about to set sail
along this majestic river
on the state-of-the-art
floating restaurant
run by one of the world's
greatest chefs, Alain Ducasse.
And joining me
on this culinary adventure
is another master of French
cuisine, Chef Eric Ripert.
-Bonjour, Eric.
-Bonjour.
-How are you?
-Very good.
-Oh.
-Great to see you.
-Good to see you.
Thank you for coming.
-I'm so happy to be here.
We're gonna have a great dinner.
-It's gonna be nice.
-It's going to be so nice.
-I think we're
gonna have fun, too.
-We are gonna have fun.
Wait till we get drinking.
-Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Of course. In five minutes.
-In five
-[ Laughter ]
-Hailed as one of the world's
best restaurants,
Eric's Le Bernardin was
among the first
to win three Michelin stars
in New York,
which he's held for 20 years.
What age did you start?
-15, in culinary school. 17,
I was in Paris in restaurant.
-Wow.
-Hello.
-Oh, my gosh.
Thank you for coming.
-I'm so happy to be here.
-Bonjour, Chef.
-Bonjour.
-Ca va.
-Ravie, ravie.
-My other guest is fellow
American food and culture writer
Lindsay Tramuta, who I met on
the Paris leg
of my French journey.
It's going to be an exciting day
because we're not only
going to be eating our way
through the history
of French cuisine,
we're going to be cruising
down the Seine.
-Spectacular.
-Look at that.
It's so amazing.
-Welcome aboard.
Can I offer you a glass
of champagne as an aperitif?
-Thank you.
-Merci.
-Wow.
-Santé, Santé.
-I hope these guys are hungry
because we're about
to eat seven courses.
The traditional number
for a formal French meal.
Why seven courses?
When did this formality
of coursing out a meal begin?
-It has been an evolution.
Before it was everything
on the table.
-Like a buffet?
-Like a buffet.
And everything was cold
at the end.
And in the 19th century,
Escoffier refined the idea
of the evolution of your menu.
And seven was the magic number.
-I think I'll be hearing
Escoffier's name a lot today.
He transformed fine dining from
a jumble of different plates
all at once to a sequence of
distinct complementary courses
to create an elegant
gastronomic journey.
-Escoffier is like the--
-The godfather of the rules?
-Yes.
-He set the rules?
-Yeah.
-Definitely.
-Well,
we should check out the menus.
-Ah, sure.
-Yes. Let's see.
One. Two. Three.
Four. Five. Six. Seven.
♪♪
Our seven-course feast has been
designed by Alain Ducasse's
on board team to tell
the gripping story
of French cuisine.
♪♪
-Head Chef
Jean-Philippe Behrens
is launching our
culinary journey
with two contrasting
appetizers or amuse bouche.
♪♪
You know what I love?
I love many things
about French cuisine,
but what I love is
an amuse bouche.
This concept of entertaining
your mouth before we even begin.
-The idea is
to tease you a little bit.
-Yeah. Yeah.
-It's to prepare
your palate, too.
-As well. Yes.
-For what's to come.
-Yeah.
-And you can start to drink
wine, which is a good idea.
-Also an amuse bouche.
-It's an amuse bouche for sure.
-Yes.
Not just to tickle
our taste buds,
our amuse bouche are
a glimpse of what lies ahead,
symbolizing two key moments
in French culinary history.
First up is quenelle
with Nantua sauce.
Made from a sea bream mousse,
these light dumplings
are grilled till golden
and served with
a rich crayfish sauce.
Oh! It has a sauce.
♪♪
-That is lovely.
-Yes. It's very mild.
-Yeah.
-It's very delicate.
It's like a pillow.
-Mm-hmm.
-A light pillow
of seafood, right?
-Yeah.
-And then it goes
very well with the sauce.
-Yeah. What's the sauce Nantua?
-So Nantua is a sauce
with béchamel
and a reduction of crayfish
that gives you this color.
And this fantastic flavor.
-Typically made with pike,
quenelle with sauce Nantua
epitomize
the 19th century heyday
of haute cuisine defined
by Auguste Escoffier's
classic dishes with rich sauces.
-That's another hallmark
of haute cuisine,
is, you know,
a lot of cream, butter.
So the fact that it has béchamel
is like, classic.
-I want ten more of these.
-That when they succeed, they're
really teasing your taste buds.
-Yeah.
In contrast,
our second sea bream dish
is stripped back with no sauce,
just pieces
of raw fish marinated in salt,
sugar and lemon
and dressed with caviar.
Oh, my God, this one's so good.
-It's really good.
-Mmm.
There's a great pop
in your mouth from the caviar.
-Mm-hmm, the caviar, of course
brings a luxury to the dish.
And the dorade is so fresh you
can serve it like this.
In the '70s,
chefs decided to honor
the quality of the ingredients.
So the product has to be very,
very fresh.
-Mm-hmm.
This simple dish represents
the late 20th century backlash
against haute cuisine when
chefs rejected the status quo,
moving to lighter,
fresher cooking.
How did the French
cuisine community react
when new things were being done?
Because I consider French food
so by the rules and very rigid.
-Yes, it was a revolution.
-A number of chefs
really pioneered this.
That period was very much
about letting the flavors
of the product really shine.
-Wow.
I can't believe that was
just the amuse bouche.
I also like that we've moved
through the history
a bit with just
the amuse bouche.
-Yes.
-It's a good teaser.
-Yeah, it's a good teaser
of what's to come.
Off to our next course.
Only six more to go.
-I'm ready.
♪♪
♪♪
-And we're off.
-Oh, look at this.
-Oh, yes.
-And we're off.
-So special.
-We're moving.
-It's nice.
I mean, look at this.
-Fantastic.
-My guests, Eric, Lindsay,
and I are setting sail
on our voyage
through culinary history,
starting all the way back
in the 17th century.
You can't cruise down the Seine
without making some waves.
And the same can be said
for the first
French culinary influencer,
Louis the 14th.
He propelled
French gastronomy so far forward
like no other before him.
♪♪
In fact, Louis the 14th
is such a big deal,
the team are dedicating
two courses to his story.
For the soup course,
Chef Behrens is making a
lobster bisque with juicy chunks
of lobster tail dressed with
ginger, red onion and basil.
Well, let's sit. Come and sit.
-Okay.
-Okay.
-So we can have our next course.
♪♪
Merci beaucoup. Wow.
The bisque base is smothered
with an intense lobster broth
combined with lightly
whipped cream.
Look at that color.
-Yes.
-I love anything with cream.
Let's taste this.
Mmm. Mm.
That cream makes it
a little bit tart.
-Brings a little bit
of lightness.
The illusion of lightness
in a dish.
This is really delicious.
-Mm-hmm.
-Louis the 14th loved seafood.
So this dish would have been
most likely a second course
during a big banquet.
-A food lover, Louis the 14th,
known as the Sun King,
transformed messy
medieval style dining
at the Palace of Versailles.
Introducing new customs
like serving food at the table
in elaborate displays.
♪♪
Why was Louis the 14th
so formal?
-When he was inviting
some head of states
from other countries,
he wanted to show off
the culture of France.
♪♪
-He really set a standard
for not only formal dining,
but it was a form
of political theater.
-Right, to show
an image of power.
Central to the pomp
of these banquets
were beautifully
presented dishes,
with the fish course
often a high point.
So I want to see
how the team are preparing ours.
-Bonjour, Chef.
-Bonjour, Eva.
-Stéphane Duchiron
is Executive Chef
at Alain Ducasse's
Versailles restaurant.
♪♪
-I just wanna
Oh, yeah.
That's very citrusy, that herb.
Wow. I would put that
in a cocktail.
-Yes.
-[ Laughs ]
♪♪
-Oh, wow.
I've never seen this.
The bass is enveloped
in a blanket of puff pastry,
which Chef Stéphane sculpts
into a work of art.
-Stéphane then bakes it
in the oven
while I return
to my dinner guests.
♪♪
I checked on the fish.
It's going to live up
to the grandeur of
-Louis the 14th.
-Of Louis the 14th, yes.
♪♪
[ Gasps ]
-Wow.
-Wow.
-How do you even cut
into this?
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, that sound.
-I know this needs to be
an ASMR video.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
-When the puff pastry is light
like that, it's such a delight.
-It's a little bit
of tableside theater.
-Stéphane serves
the fragrant baked sea bass
with some of the flaky pastry
and a traditional beurre blanc,
an emulsion
of white wine and butter.
-Merci, Chef.
-Merci.
-Bravo.
-Merci.
-Merci.
-Okay.
-This is magnificent.
♪♪
-Oh.
-The texture of this fish
is so delicate.
-It melts in your mouth.
-It's so light and fresh.
-Because it cooks very slowly.
So the flesh relax
while it's cooking.
And you have the puff pastry,
which adds the texture
to the dish.
So this is the perfect dish.
-I find it incredible that we
are still enjoying food
from the Sun King's table
four centuries later,
but this gourmet fare was
just for the elite.
As this, you know,
grand movement was happening
in the court.
What was happening
with the common folk?
What were they eating?
-They were eating this.
-Bread.
-Bread.
It was a big part of the meal.
It was a big difference
between the court and the king
-and -- and the people.
-The people. Mm-hmm.
-And therefore--
-Hence the French Revolution.
-That led to
the French Revolution.
-For nearly a century,
the Sun King's
culinary influence spread
to the households
of the aristocracy
until the French Revolution
and the end of the Ancien Régime
changed the course
of gastronomic history.
-Emerging from
these private kitchens,
these skilled chefs opened
their own establishments.
They introduced the public
to haute cuisine,
and the French restaurant
industry was born.
Now you have customers
and clients.
And so that feedback
of evolving a recipe
or evolving product
into something else
-probably exploded.
-For sure.
-Yeah.
-That changed the course
of French food history.
It led entirely the way
to a new chapter of restaurants
and eventually in the way
that we know them today.
-That's exciting.
-Yeah.
-What happens next?
♪♪
♪♪
We have red wine.
Our first red wine.
-Santé.
-Santé.
-We're halfway through
our seven-course meal.
Time for our main course,
which takes us
into the 19th century.
All right, so our plat principal
is Beef à la Rossini
in Périgueux sauce.
-It's a very luxurious dish
made with beef and foie gras,
and then sauce Périgueux, which
is made with espagnole sauce,
which was defined by Escoffier.
♪♪
-Escoffier was the most
celebrated chef of that period,
who codified a lot
of the rules of dining.
-So he created this dish?
-He didn't create it,
but he popularized it.
-By the late 1800s,
a new bourgeois class
with gourmand taste
was creating an explosion
in the restaurant industry.
There were no standardized
recipes or techniques.
Enter Auguste Escoffier,
who in 1903 wrote a book of
rules and recipes training chefs
to deliver a consistent level
of professional cooking.
-Escoffier said, "Okay"
-Key to Escoffier's
haute cuisine
were sauces adding
unity and depth to his dishes.
He classified the top
five essential mother sauces
for chefs to master.
So I have asked Eric
to give me a lesson.
-Okay, Eric.
Please explain to me
these five mother sauces.
-So mother sauce is the basic,
and you can add ingredients
in it and you change the flavor.
-Then it becomes
something else.
-Something else.
-The pinnacle
of haute cuisine,
the five mother sauces
are still used
by classically-trained
chefs today.
They include the
egg-based hollandaise
and the classic tomato.
Is it made of tomatoes?
-It's made with tomatoes.
-The remaining
three sauces are made
with a base called a roux.
-So we're going to put
the butter here.
-A mix of melted butter
and flour.
You know, I always did this,
and I never knew
it was called a roux.
-Oh, you never knew?
-No.
This is just
how I would thicken my gravy.
-Yes, of course.
-Simply adding milk
to the roux
creates the most widely used
of the five sauces, béchamel.
And what are your favorite
things to do with béchamel base?
-I make cauliflower gratin
with it.
-Really?
-Yes, at home.
-Next is the velouté,
where instead of milk,
the roux is mixed with stock.
-It's almost like a soup.
-And finally, the most refined
of the mother sauces
is the espagnole,
which is the base for
our upcoming sauce, Périgueux.
So we will be eating this one.
-Oh, for sure
we're gonna eat this one.
-Okay.
-It's basically a reduction
of veal stock--
-And veal broth.
-Veal broth, very dark,
already very reduced.
-Hence the color.
-I like
that it's called mother sauces,
not the father sauces.
You know what I mean?
Mothers make things better.
You need the mother
for all things.
-Eva, I agree with you.
-[ Laughs ]
-I'm sold.
-Sold.
-Mother sauces.
Chef Jean-Philippe transforms
our espagnole mother sauce
into a refined Périgueux
with Madeira and black truffle.
♪♪
Beef Rossini is made
with filet mignon,
foie gras and black truffle
tailored by Escoffier
to please the lavish taste
of the bourgeoisie.
Wow, look at those truffle.
-It looks beautiful.
-It looks like chocolate.
-The proportions are amazing.
In between the foie gras
and the beef, the truffles.
But also you have a crouton
that brings a bit of texture,
but also will drink
the juice of the beef.
-This is gorgeous.
And as with
all classic haute cuisine,
the dish is tied together
with our luxurious sauce.
That's a thick sauce.
-This is beautiful.
♪♪
-Mmm. Oh, that's nice.
Mm, that lean filet mignon
with the fatty foie gras
is a good combination.
-It has the texture
that is very velvety.
But foie gras brings
a lot of richness to the dish.
-With the sauce that
creates a softness too.
I mean, it's just delicious.
-Mm.
-Wow.
-This is the eye
of gourmandise in cooking.
All the elements are beautiful
and delicious.
And I think
this dish represents Escoffier
-and his success very well.
-Mm-hmm.
Did Escoffier have
an influence on you?
-Oh, for sure.
-Yeah?
-He basically codified the way
you organize your kitchen
and the way you serve
as well in the dining room.
-Escoffier's haute cuisine
needed an efficient workforce
to deliver his recipes in his
strictly ordered, coarse format.
But with no organization,
kitchens were chaotic
and lawless.
-I've always
-To bring these
rowdy rebels under control,
Escoffier created an army-like
brigade system with a hierarchy
and clearly defined roles.
So what exactly
is the brigade system?
-The brigade system is
an organization.
Escoffier is coming
from military.
And he keeps the same words.
Not a general, but a chef,
sous chef and chef de partie.
And with all the parts,
the meat, the fish,
the vegetables, the sauce.
-A game changer.
His system is still
widely used today.
-We need this brigade system
because if you want to,
to push out of the limit and
to have something more creative.
-But Escoffier knew
good restaurants also needed
great service,
so he continued his military
regime into the dining room.
-The beautiful
roasted chicken.
-Oh, my gosh.
-And this, my friends,
saw the dawn of the
intimidating French waiter.
♪♪
It's not just me, is it?
They are scary.
with a rigid chain of command,
Escoffier's front
of house Brigade system
provided seamless service
in the dining room.
-So everyone has a role
in their position.
So this was then also applied
abroad in other cultures?
-Yes.
You have the captains,
which are called
maitre d'hotel in France,
the chef de rang,
and the commis.
-So there's this hierarchy
to the brigade system?
-Yes.
-When you started out, did
you work your way up the system?
-Oh, yes, of course,
-I started as line cook--
-Wow.
-And then chef de partie
much later,
and I became a chef
about 10, 11 years.
-Into the profession.
-Into the profession, yes.
-Wow.
-Now I get why Escoffier is
known as the father
of modern cuisine.
His strict rules of fine dining
are still seen all
over France today.
From the brigades to the food
and even the sauces.
The sauce is the star
of the plate.
Because you can feel and
taste the truffle in the sauce.
-It's also harmonious, right?
The sauce brings all
the ingredients together.
It's paradise.
-This plate is paradise.
-That's it.
We'll rename it.
♪♪
♪♪
-The first half
of the 20th century
was unstoppable
for French gastronomy.
They were basking in the glory
of Escoffier's legacy.
The French brigade system
became the global standard,
French techniques became
the cornerstone
of culinary education
and not to mention the rise
of the Michelin Guide.
♪♪
-I've always been fascinated
by the Michelin-star system.
How did a tire company decide
who is the best of the best?
-I mean,
I think you have to remember
how they started
even reviewing restaurants,
and it's because
they were encouraging people
-on the motorway to take breaks.
-Right.
-I actually have
a little surprise here.
I found this 1978 guide.
So it's not the oldest,
obviously,
because they started
attributing stars in 1926.
-Oh, really?
♪♪
To encourage travel
and therefore tire sales
on France's expanding
road network.
Michelin Tires created
a restaurant guide using
the standard set by Escoffier
to award stars
for quality and consistency.
-So one star would be
good cooking in its class.
Two is excellent cooking
worthy of a detour.
-Ooh.
-And then three stars
worthy of a special journey.
-Oh, like a destination?
-Yeah.
-Is it still
the same qualifications today?
-Those are still how they write.
-Yes,
it is the same qualifications.
-What started out
as a travel guide
soon became the benchmark
for haute cuisine,
creating the first ever
celebrity chefs.
Over the 20th century,
Michelin started to issue
guides around the world,
including New York,
awarding three stars to Eric's
modern French restaurant,
Le Bernardin.
When you started out,
did you aspire to become
a Michelin-starred chef?
-I always wanted to be
the chef that I am today.
I wanted to be the chef
of a big brigade
who can create
those great dishes
and have people
potentially traveling to come
and have a very specific
and special experience.
-To just see you.
-Well, not to see me,
to eat the food.
-Yes, but you are the food.
This is your story
that you tell.
-Yeah, it's my story for sure.
-Still the gold standard,
these days Michelin doesn't
just award stars
for Escoffier-style fine dining,
which brings us
to our fifth course.
A risotto of
seasonal fruits and vegetables.
♪♪
-Merci beaucoup.
-Je vous en prie.
-[ Gasps ] Oh, my goodness,
it's beautiful.
I love a colorful plate.
-This is a signature dish
of Monsieur Ducasse.
♪♪
-Mmm.
-It's a texture explosion.
-Yes.
-'Cause there's
like the softness of vegetables,
the little structured fruit,
and then that grain.
It's like a party.
-A little bit. Yeah.
A party.
-A little texture
party happening in my mouth.
-It's inspired
by nouvelle cuisine.
-Wow.
-Vegetables and fruits
are assembled together.
So that way you can taste
every flavor
-from every vegetable and fruit.
-Right.
-In the '70s,
chefs decided to honor
the quality of the ingredients.
Less sauce.
And it's lighter.
Nouvelle cuisine was
a revolution
before it was a dictature
from the Escoffier era.
You were not able
to express yourself.
You couldn't put cilantro
if it was tarragon
because it was not authorized.
-Seeking creative freedom,
some of France's
top emerging chefs
started to reject the doctrine
of classic haute cuisine.
♪♪
-There is a lot of
different chefs Michel Gérard,
Paul Bocuse, Les Trois.
These kind of chefs
start to really break the rules.
♪♪
-Inspired
by the '60s counterculture,
these young chefs shook up
the status quo,
leaving many
of the older generation
appalled at this rebellion.
-I can tell you
that my grandfather,
when he saw
the Nouvelle cuisine arrived,
he was completely upset.
He said, "It's bullshit."
It's a So, there was a
generation, you know,
who were completely against that
for sure.
-Nouvelle cuisine started
to appear
on Michelin-starred menus,
creating a new trend.
But inevitably,
some chefs went overboard.
And soon this new movement
became a victim
of its own success.
♪♪
♪♪
-It became a caricature
and a bad word
because you ended up
with three string beans parallel
-to each other, barely cooked.
-Oh.
-With a tiny piece of chicken.
-I remember this now.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-And they will come to the table
with all the formality.
Put a gigantic silver cloche
on top.
-For three green beans.
-Everybody at the same time.
-You'll be like, "Oh."
-Oh, that's it.
-There, that's--
-So it went too far.
-It went too far.
They went too extreme.
-Yeah.
-It was lampooned
even by Paul Bocuse himself,
who famously said, "Uh,
not a lot on the plate,
everything on the bill."
I think that tells you a lot.
-As nouvelle cuisine
snowballed,
food journalist Gault-Millau
tried to define what
it stood for
in Ten Commandments.
-The tenets
of nouvelle cuisine
were like,
"Thou shalt not overcook."
-Oh, my God,
they're even in thou shalt not?
-Oh, yeah.
-Oh, wow.
-They weren't messing around.
-They were serious.
-"Thou shalt use
fresh quality products."
"Thou shall eliminate
rich sauces."
"Thou shalt be inventive."
-Wait, wait, wait. Wait.
Why would you have harsh rules
about not having rules?
-It was a way
of understanding this movement,
but it ended up creating
another rule book
when they wanted to move away
from a rule book.
-Yeah.
-But then we find
some balance again.
And Nouvelle cuisine has been
very influential still today.
-As the extremes
of nouvelle cuisine died out,
its core values
of creative freedom
and fresh produce have remained,
leaving their imprint
on many top chefs today.
♪♪
-Alain Ducasse took
the best of nouvelle cuisine,
and he created a new style
without the stupidity
and excess of it
to elevate every ingredient
and creating something
harmonious with contrast.
And we have a dish
that really represents the best
of what nouvelle cuisine
left behind.
♪♪
-Bon appetit.
-Bon appetit. Santé.
-Bon appetit.
-[ Laughs ]
-We've docked back at the
Eiffel Tower to pick up a VIP
who's joining us for our next
course and chapter in our story.
-Mory.
-How are you?
-How are you?
-Bonjour, Mory.
-Bonjour.
-Ça va.
-Ça va.
♪♪
-Mory Sacko is one of France's
most cutting-edge chefs.
So I'm dying to know
his thoughts on
how French cuisine got to its
place on the world stage today.
-We have been talking
about the l'histoire
of French cuisine.
-And I love that you're here
because your generation is
such a big part
of redefining what
has been laid before you.
-Yeah. Hello, Nina.
-Hello.
-For your sixth course,
we are breaking
with the traditional menu.
And there will be
small plates with some cheese.
-Thank you.
-You're welcome.
-Thank you.
-We're breaking the rules.
-Yeah.
-[ Laughs ]
-In classic cuisine,
the sixth course
often serves cheese as a bridge
between the main and dessert.
But the late '90s saw
a new rebellion
against Escoffier's rules,
rejecting the formality
of one course after another.
This movement,
dubbed gastronomy,
often serves small plates
together.
♪♪
-Bistronomy was
the last super big
new movement in culinary here.
-Bistronomy?
-Yes, bistronomy.
-Like bistro and gastronomy.
-Mixed.
-Mixed together.
-Bistronomy.
-Yeah.
-A lot of chefs
didn't have the budget
to open a restaurant
and invest in silverware
and crystal and tablecloths.
They care about cooking
great ingredients,
but caviar and truffles,
it's so expensive.
-In the early '90s,
a major recession in France
caused thousands of restaurants
to close,
paving the way for fast food.
The pressure
to maintain the formal standards
of haute cuisine
grew too great for some chefs.
In 2003, depressed
and under financial strain,
three-starred Bernard Loiseau
took his own life.
With the crisis
of haute cuisine laid bare,
chefs rebelled
by opening more modest bistros
with simplified menus.
-So this bistronomy movement,
did this influence you?
-Oh, wow.
-Merci.
-Mmm.
-Mmm.
-Oh, yeah, spicy mayo.
-Oh, wow.
-Ooh.
-It picks up.
-Yeah.
-I mean, it's okay.
I love spicy food.
-No, I love spicy.
-Yeah, I like that.
-That's true.
-Well, I'm moving on to the
cheese to calm down this spice.
-Mmm. It is so
creamy and fluffy.
-That cheese is really good.
-I know.
-The way they whisk it
is almost like a whipped cream.
-Okay, I'm gonna try the broth.
I haven't tried it.
-The broth is nice.
It's a bit spicy.
-Is it spicy
because of the ginger?
-I think so.
The ginger kicks a little bit.
-What do you think, Mory?
-As bistronomy evolved
into the 2000s,
the internet and cheap travel
opened chefs' eyes
to a more global view
of gastronomy.
♪♪
-I see life
with no boundaries,
and I don't want to define
myself about where I'm from.
I've been trained in France.
I've learned many things.
My heart is here in Marseille,
but what I enjoy
the most is away.
-Yeah.
The revolution
in French cooking
sparked by the economic crisis
of the '90s,
created a new freedom
for chefs like Mory.
He combines classical
French training
with Japanese influences
and his West African heritage.
-You are--
-Many things.
-Many things all at once
and it's beautiful.
-Yeah.
Mory, thank you so much
for coming.
-I'm so happy you were here
to talk with us.
You can take
the cheese with you.
Leave the wine.
-[ Laughs ]
♪♪
♪♪
-Hey, you guys, we made it!
We made it
to the seventh course.
I'm excited about this dessert
because we talked about
the rise, the fall,
the resurrection
of French gastronomy.
And I want to see
how French cuisine is evolving.
The dessert is representing
what the future holds
for French gastronomy
experimenting
with a French classic.
-That's cool.
-Isn't that amazing?
-I like the mystery.
♪♪
-Two top students
from the Ducasse Culinary School
have reimagined the classic
Strawberries in Chantilly cream,
a dish made popular
by Escoffier.
Their version has a base
of sliced strawberries glazed
with a strawberry confit.
What's that?
Then, with a flourish
of theatrical wizardry,
they pour liquid nitrogen
over the Chantilly,
giving it a whole new form.
♪♪
-That's lovely.
-[ Gasps ]
Oh, wow!
♪♪
-It's like popcorn.
-Yeah.
♪♪
-This is our version
of strawberries and Chantilly,
which is with
the liquid nitrogen.
And it's based off milk,
which is kind of lighter
and kind of healthy.
-Thank you, ladies.
-Thank you very much.
-Thank you.
-Bravo.
-Wow.
-Oh, my gosh.
Mmm.
-Mmm.
-I love it.
I love the flavor.
-Mm-hmm.
It's very light and delicious.
-Yeah.
-And you can taste
the strawberries.
-I just think it's so playful
to take something so simple
like the whipped cream,
the Chantilly
and to do it in this format.
-So Eric are you
confident about the future
of French gastronomy?
-I am very confident
about French gastronomy
because I see the new generation
and the older generation
keeping the traditions,
but at the same time
moving forward
and adopting new technologies
and being creative.
♪♪
-We are succeeding
and we are moving on.
And we are in a 21 century.
It's the beginning.
Can't wait.
-Ah! Bravo, équipe!
-Well, thank you so much.
You helped us tell the history
of French gastronomy.
Felicitation.
Merci.
[ Applause ]
♪♪
-After this meal,
and talking to my guests,
what can I say?
France has it all.
Amazing produce, techniques,
traditions and the talent
to train the chefs of tomorrow.
So what's next?
Having created a culinary canon
that dominated the world,
France had to break
with its own rules to survive.
Now, with unlimited
creative freedom,
the sky's the limit
for French cuisine.
♪♪