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 supports, 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’s the first school of its kind on an international scale, and I hope it will grow!
What is the content of the training provided?
Culinary training develops the basics of healthy cooking. Namely the cooking methods in decreasing order of harmfulness, the bases (broths, saucesvinaigrettes, liaisons, etc.), the new gestures and reflexes which will then be applied through the creation of seasonal recipes: stuffed chicken breast, beef béarnaise, etc. The Healthy Pâtisserie is based around revised and corrected recipes such as the floating island, the lemon pieprofiteroles… Theoretical training addresses thebalanced diet and questions of quantity and quality, the various sweetening products as well as food-related pathologies (diabetes, overweight, etc.). Students learn to evaluate the nutritional and caloric intake of recipes usually made. The proposed duration of 10 days should allow kitchen professionals to acquire these techniques and knowledge.
Should healthy cooking become everyday cooking?
Perhaps teasingly, I once said, paraphrasing André Malraux, that “tomorrow, cooking will be healthy or it won’t be”. It is above all a question of getting rid of culinary habits that are harmful to health. For the French, eating is the most hedonistic, the most immediate way to indulge oneself. It is therefore imperative to include taste and pleasure in any process aimed at reforming eating habits. However, it suffices to acquire certain techniques to reduce the caloric load of the recipes by five to six times. Including those that constitute our gastronomic heritage, to which we are viscerally attached. For the brandade, instead of pounding the cod with olive oil, I use white vegetables, such as cauliflower, and semi-skimmed milk, to preserve the color of the dish. About the stew: the sauce based on cream and butter can be replaced by white vegetables finely mixed with broth. A hint of mashed banana will bring an exotic note. In people at risk of cardiovascular illnesses with diabetes or high blood pressure, this cuisine can achieve significant results.
What role do cooks play in consumer health?
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 a tasty cuisine and respecting the health of their customers, they will be able to participate in the nutritional balance. Especially if the food industry and its chefs join the movement. Currently, there are deviations, but it is possible to change things. In hospital catering, cooks also have a role to play. However, they come up against a technical constraint, which requires that the food be cooled very quickly after preparation, to be reheated when desired. As a result, we eat badly. A reflection is 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 industry. You can reduce the amount, or use synthetic sugars. Then find lightweight alternativesis a very stimulating “technical-intellectual” exercise. As for our emblematic Paris-Brest, the choux pastry remains the same. But the praline-heavy butter cream is replaced by whipped cream lightened with beaten egg whites and flavored with coffee and chicory. Everyone agrees that the ersatz surpasses the original! Our lemon piewhose shortcrust pastry 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 intended for kitchen professionals, staff of agri-food research centres, catering service providers and 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 thermal baths of Eugénie-les-Bains.
Healthy Cooking School®, Les Prés d’Eugénie, place de l’Impératrice, 40320 Eugénie-les-Bains. Such. : (00 33)5 58 05 06 41 and www.institutmichelguerard.com
