According to National Public Radio (NPR), Chef Paul Bocuse died this past Saturday.
The celebrity chef and restaurateur, who built an empire worth more than $60 million, died in his sleep at his home in Collonges-au-Mont-d’or, the place of his birth, reports French newspaper Le Monde.
As a rising chef in the 1960s and ’70s, Bocuse was associated with France’s so-called nouvelle cuisine, moving the popular palette away from classic fare steeped in heavy sauces toward lighter dishes elevated by regional ingredients.
As his renown grew, so too did his network of restaurants, extending outside France to Switzerland, the United States and Japan. Bocuse also operated a culinary school in France and authored several cookbooks.
My experience with Paul Bocuse was personal and I will miss him. He had an incredible impact on my life traveling through Lyon, staying at his hotel, eating at both his ‘Gastronomique’ (enjoying his cookbook claimed as the definitive step-by-step guide to culinary excellence) and eating at his more peasant style Italian Restaurant in Lyon, as well.
I have written about him and what I learned, right here on this sight since my first bog in 2011. You can read about my Italian experience right HERE, to see what I learned during that visit, after finishing up this article.
President Emmanuel Macron tweeted Saturday, “Paul Bocuse is no longer here. Chefs are crying in their kitchen at the Élysée and everywhere in France.”
This Chef is crying right here in San Diego and in deep gratitude for everything he taught us. And the lesson I come away with is: take each minute in, be mindful and learn all you can because you never know when a person will pass.
Some chefs create with great ego. Others may have ego but live to teach and create. That’s the kind of Chef Paul Bocuse was. No matter how many awards he won, the most important thing he won….. was my heart, and the hearts of his country.
R.I.P. Paul Bocuse! Repose en paux…..
Healthy Happy Cooking,
