How did the idea of creating this school come about?
Health has always been at the center of my cooking, since the 1970s when I began to imagine a health card for spa guests at the Eugénie-les-Bains spa. It takes care of, among other things, metabolic disorders (overweight, diabetes…). The idea of a specialized school really took shape in 2009, during a meeting with Roselyne Bachelot, then Minister of Health, around hydrotherapy. It is the first school of its kind on an international scale, and I hope that it will make children!
What is the content of the training provided?
Culinary training develops the basics of Healthy Cooking. Namely the cooking in descending order of harmfulness, the funds (broths, sauces, vinaigrettes, connections …), new gestures and reflexes that will then be applied through the creation of seasonal recipes: stuffed chicken breast, Béarnaise beef, etc. La Pâtisserie Santé revolves around revised and corrected recipes such as the floating island, the lemon pie, profiteroles… The theoretical training covers thebalanced diet and questions of quantity and quality, the various sweetening products as well as pathologies linked to diet (diabetes, overweight, etc.). The pupils learn to evaluate the nutritional and caloric intakes of recipes usually made. The proposed duration of 10 days should allow cooking professionals to acquire these techniques and knowledge.
Should diet food become everyday cooking?
Perhaps out of a playful spirit, I once said, paraphrasing André Malraux, that “tomorrow, cooking will be healthy or it will not be”. It is above all about getting rid of harmful culinary habits. For the French, eating is the most hedonistic, the most immediate way to have fun. It is therefore imperative to include taste and pleasure in any initiative aimed at reforming eating habits. However, it suffices to acquire certain techniques to reduce the caloric load of recipes by five to six times. Including those which constitute our gastronomic heritage, to which we are deeply attached. For the brandade, instead of mashing the cod with olive oil, I use white vegetables, like cauliflower, and semi-skimmed milk, to keep the color of the dish. About the blanquette: the sauce based on cream and butter can be replaced by white vegetables finely mixed with broth. A hint of mashed bananas will bring an exotic note. In people at risk of cardiovascular illnesses , with diabetes or high blood pressure, this cuisine allows you to obtain significant results.
What role do cooks play in the health of consumers?
Today, they lack nutritional knowledge, because current education does not allow them to acquire it. That’s why we created this school. From there, by developing tasty cuisine and respecting the health of their customers, they will be able to participate in nutritional balance. Especially if the food industry and its leaders join the movement. Currently, there are drifts, but it is possible to change things. In hospital catering services, cooks also have a role to play. However, they come up against a technical constraint, which requires that the food is cooled very quickly after preparation, to be reheated when desired. Result, we eat poorly. Discussions are underway with some hospital directors.
Is it possible to speak of a “healthy pastry”?
Traditional pastry combines sugar and fat. In recent years, there has been a tendency to over-sweeten, especially in the industry. You can reduce the amount, or use synthetic sugars. Then find light alternativesis a very stimulating “technical-intellectual” exercise. Regarding our emblematic Paris-Brest, the choux pastry remains the same. But buttercream weighed down with praline is replaced by a whipped cream lightened with snow whites and flavored with coffee and chicory. Everyone agrees that the ersatz goes beyond the original! Our lemon pie, whose shortbread dough is three times thinner than that of the classic recipe, uses the same process.
To know more :
The 10 days of teaching are provided as part of continuing professional training. They are aimed at kitchen professionals, staff of agri-food research centers, catering service providers as well as health professionals.
Culinary training is provided by chefs from Eugénie’s starred restaurant; theoretical teaching, by a doctor specializing in metabolic disorders and dieticians from the Eugénie-les-Bains thermal baths.
Healthy Cooking School®, Les Prés d’Eugénie, place de l’Impératrice, 40320 Eugénie-les-Bains. Phone. : (00 33) 5 58 05 06 41 and www.institutmichelguerard.com
