Gastronomy in Grief: 'Pope of French Cuisine' Paul Bocuse Dies at 91

Paul Bocuse was the man behind the French culinary movement known as nouvelle cuisine. He shaped a style of cooking at the Auberge du Pont de Collonges, his three-star Michelin restaurant near Lyon. The restaurant has held on to its star status for the past 50 years.

One of his most famous dishes was the truffle soup V.G.E., which included foie gras, chicken broth and was baked in a single-serving bowl covered in puff pastry. 

Bocuse inspired chefs from around the world, and his restaurant empire extended to the US and Japan. 

He was born on February 11, 1926, in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, and he came from a family of chefs dating back to 1700s. He started as a cooking apprentice at the age of 11. 

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, described Bocuse as “the incarnation of French cuisine”.

“His name alone sums up French gastronomy; his generosity, his respect for traditions but also his innovation,” Macron said. “Today French gastronomy has lost a legendary figure who transformed it profoundly. Chefs are crying in their kitchens at the Elysée and everywhere in France. But they will carry on his work,” the French president added.

France’s Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted that “Mister Paul was France. Simplicity and generosity. Excellence and art de vivre.”

Bocuse underwent a triple heart bypass in 2005, and he was also suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

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