Celebrating the French cuisine

Five hotels in Puducherry to be part of Good France, an initiative to celebrate French gastronomy

Bon appétit: Consul General of France in Puducherry, Catherine Suard, samples the French cuisine prepared by chefs participating in the Good France food festival.

Do you want to get the real taste of French food? The time to satiate your taste buds with the country’s in celebration of French gastronomy has arrived. On March 21, five restaurants in Puducherry would join a club of 3,000 hotels across the world to serve French cuisine.

Addressing mediapersons on Monday, Consul General of France in Puducherry, Catherine Suard said that the fourth edition of Gout de France or Good France is a unique global event to be held in 150 countries in five continents, involving French embassies/consulates and chefs from around the world.

In south India, this year, at least 12 restaurants will be part of Good France. This includes five restaurants in Puducherry, four in Chennai, one in Karaikudi and two restaurants in Kerala.

Ms. Suard said this year there would be more flexibility to adapt to various market conditions wherein restaurants can propose their Good France menu not only on March 21 but also during the following weekend. “Besides, they can present alternative meal in order to better satisfy specific food regime,” she said.

Cultural outreach

She added that restaurants from around the world had been invited to apply on the

www.goodfrance.com website and offer a menu showcasing France’s culinary traditions. “An international selection committee of chefs, supported by the Embassies, has approved the list of participating chefs to ensure the quality and coherence of the menus. Nearly 89 million international tourists visited France. With a third of tourists coming to France for its culinary heritage, French gastronomy has become one of the key drivers of France’s attractiveness and cultural outreach,” she said.

Ms. Suard added that the wealth of France’s cuisine and the inclusion of the gastronomic meal of the French on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage has made France a unique destination for an ever-changing gastronomic experience.

In Puducherry, this year, Chef Nabakumar of Hotel Atithi, Vijayakumar of DeBussy, French Chef Michel Christmann of Villa Shanti and La Villa and Satish from Hotel Promenade are participating. If you are in Puducherry, you can book your tables at all the hotels mentioned above. All the restaurants will have a French aperitif, a cold and hot appetiser, a meat or poultry-based dish, French cheese with salad, a dessert and wine. Each restaurant presented a dish at the French Consulate General office here.

‘Good France’ was launched by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, under the guidance of celebrated three-star chef Alain Ducasse. The initiative aims to salute the excellence of French cuisine.