Article 7

By Bruce Palling

Yannick Alléno, the most glamorous Three Michelin Star chef in Paris, has a mission – a dirty one. Ever since he read a French food writer’s accusation of a certain sameness at the top of French cuisine, he decided to dig deeper into the origins of his ingredients.

“Francois Simon of Le Figaro wrote a perceptive article about 10 dishes and challenged the readers to identify which of the 10 chefs listed were responsible for each dish and it was impossible to know. It was after I read this article, which to begin with I thought was ridiculous, but then I understood it and I started to work in a different way. It was after that I created the brand “Terroir Parisien”.

We are more accustomed to hearing the word terroir from wine-makers, who use it to ascribe the unique flavours and characteristics of their product. It is one of those untranslatable French words, meaning something that involves a blend of dirt, territory, climate and identity. Yannick Alléno thinks it is time that the culinary produce of the Paris region be identified, protected and celebrated, especially as many producers are under threat from urbanisation. From his rarefied headquarters opposite the Tuileries Gardens as chef of the three Michelin Star Le Meurice (www.lemeurice.com/yannick-alleno), in one of the grandest palace hotels in Paris, he would seem an unlikely candidate to be found trudging through paddocks and farmyards around Paris. 

However, for the past six years, it has become the focus of his work. “We started this campaign in 2008 – some distributors came to see me and said they had the best products from around France, but I said it would be better for you to travel all around Paris for 50 kilometres and just identify the very best producers closer to home. They have since identified 46 different products including cheeses.”

Terroir Parisien - (note the awesome chalk writing on the blackboard)

Last March, he opened his own bistro in the fifth arrondissement, called Terroir Parisien (www.yannick-alleno.com/carnet/terroir-parisien/),

The veau chaud - or hot dog - best in Paris (tete de veau and sauce gribiche)

which showcases the best local products from within a 50 kilometre radius of Paris, which is known historically as the Île-de-France, the wealthiest and most densely populated region of the country.

My idea of comfort food

(The term refers to the framework of rivers which virtually encircle the “Island” – the Yonne in the southeast; the Marne on the east; the Aisne to the northeast; the Epte to the northwest and the Eure to the southwest.)

Alléno is not a pedant though and is quite prepared to utilise the best products from outside the region. “For our terroir lunch at Le Meurice, we provided 80% of our produce from the Parisian region, but for dinner or a la carte, it is not so much as I don’t want to restrict my creativity like that. For the same reason, I would not restrict myself like the New Nordic people who only want to use produce from their region.”

Before the last war, there were 300 farms actually inside the Parisian city limits but the last one of them – a dairy farm in the 14^thArrondissement, closed 15 years ago. Yannick Alléno also believes it is time to recognise that Paris is the most important crucible for the creation, not just of the first restaurants, but of French cuisine. “The creation of the first Parisian restaurant just after the French Revolution is really the beginning of the way we live today – for the first time there was a Carte with a choice of dishes that the diner could chose from. The earliest restaurants in Paris tended to be in Les Halles, because that was where the best produce was, and it was close to the Seine for transportation. So I believe that grand cuisine of France was born not in Lyon but in Paris. That is also because Paris is a hub, not just for France but many other countries, because we are also in the middle of Europe too.” 

Yannick at the helm of Terroir Parisien

He then rattles off dishes that originated in Paris…a lot of fundamental recipes originated in Paris – “pomme frites, pomme soufflé, sauce béarnaise. Grand patisseries also originated in Paris, the brioche, the choux, Chantilly, Then there was also a culture of fruits and vegetables around Paris – there used to be more than 140 different vegetables that were grown here.” He might have added that the first French cookbook originated in this region in the fourteenth century – Taillevent’s Viandier, because this was the location of the French court.

I spent a day with Alléno, travelling to his favourite farmers to understand the problems they face in maintaining their standards in the face not just of creeping urbanisation but also globalisation, which inevitably means their produce has to sell at a considerable premium for them to survive.

Just over an hour due south of Paris, the finest watercress in France is produced around about the village of Méréville. Sixty-year old Serge Barberon sells his four tonnes of watercress to the leading restaurants of France. “Everything here is harvested by hand and we never try to preserve our product by unnatural means. It is very tough because if there is even one yellow leaf in my product at the market, I am dead.” 

The pure water source is 30 feet below the surface, so there is no contamination but because of his adherence to traditional methods of production, it costs nearly three times more than ordinary watercress. Monsieur Barberon is one of only 26 watercress producers in this region but two of those are about to close. He too, hopes to retire soon and pass the business on to his children.

Then it was a short drive west to Aufferville, where Vincent Morisseauruns a sheep farm, the last one around Paris. It is difficult to think of them as an endangered species, but before the last war, there were 300,000 of them around Paris, according to Yannick Alléno. 

“The problem is that due to globalisation, we all began to eat Irish lamb, which while not of the same quality, was a lot cheaper.” 

Monsieur Morisseau also breeds pigeons, rabbits, turkeys and a fine looking white chicken called a Gâtinaise. 

Yannick Alléno approves of this breed but his real desire is to revive a far rarer bird, the Poularde de Houdan. “It was very popular with French kings and had a higher reputation that Poulet de Bresse. It is smaller with dark meat and a unique taste so I am hoping to create enough production so it can be revived and recognized with its own classification.”

The sheep in its cozy new home - inside a  "Anna" potato cake at the Meurice

The list goes on – “I found the last place producing white asparagus in Argenteuil near Paris – it was an old man who harvested on 500 square metres, but now he has found some recognition he sells it to the top restaurants in Paris. It is the same with a number of other products like cabbages.”

And then there are the Champignon de Paris mushrooms from the quarries at St Ouen l'Aumône. And he doesn’t confine himself to food either. “I have also been in touch with my friend Michel Chapoutier in the Rhone Valley to see where we can replant grapes in Paris. In the past there were a lot of vineyards here too – Chablis is quite close to Paris, so we are also looking around for a place to replant vineyards.” He concedes that other leading chefs have made an important contribution to the growth of local produce. “Alain Passard has done a very good job with his gardens but he only has a small restaurant (L'Arpège) so it is easier for him than it would be for us at le Meurice.”

Terroir, whether for food or wine, has a lot to do with the dirt and fortunately the earth around the Isle de France is some of the richest in France and doesn’t need fertilisers. “These people don’t want to move from their land, but the problem is that farmers are encouraged to only grow cereals. I think the next stage will be increasing diversity of products around the big cities and we now have the technology to achieve it. I work with the Ministry of Agriculture and city officials and tell them we need adequate space to grow vegetables – at least we still have the opportunity around Paris, not like New York where the only available space is on the top of skyscrapers. Most of the market gardens disappeared in the past 50 years – that is why we must do something now for the future. If we do not make a special effort, there will be no dirt left anywhere for vegetables.”

A shorter version of this story appeared in Newsweek International

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/06/24/le-meurice-s-yannick-alleno-in-search-of-paris-terroir.html