The CEFPPA once again offered me the chance to do a training course on their premises. This time it was for the Diabolo Poivre group, which has a pretty diverse range of restaurants in Strasbourg. From the iconic La corde à linge restaurant in Petite France to the Asian canteen East canteen and the Greek and Turkish-influenced Tzatzi restaurant.
It was certainly a challenge to suit all the types of restaurant in the group, and one that I gladly accepted.
So I came up with several recipes from all over the world. For me, the recipes are just vehicles for the techniques that I want to share with the trainees. It's sometimes difficult for me to choose because there are so many things I've learnt in 11 years of plant-based cooking and I know it's impossible to fit them all into 3 days of training, but I do my best.
This group of 8 trainees was highly motivated and creative. Together, they prepared the various recipes (seitan with pineapple, Alsatian apple tarts, bouchées à la reine, spaetzle...) using their own sensibility and taste. That's really the most important thing for me, because that's how they'll integrate the techniques best, by making them their own.
But also, by leaving room for their creativity to make them more confident in their ability to create gourmet plant-based dishes. To do this, I gave them space over the 3 days, especially on the last day when each of them had to create a dish based on the different techniques they'd seen on the previous days, as well as their own tastes and the remaining ingredients. The idea was also to get them to create a dish that they could put on the menu of their restaurant.
As always, the result was an explosion of creativity, colour and flavour. It's these moments that I cherish in my work because they're moments of pure creation when I see the professionals having fun and, above all, I'm always surprised by the ideas that emerge that I would never have thought of. It's so enriching for everyone. Especially in such a context with such different culinary styles. The discussions were rich and it was a great course. Even though I was down with flu on my last day, the trainees were incredibly kind.
Thank you for your confidence in me and in the CEFPPA too.
