Cuisine minceur (; ) is a style of
cooking
Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...
created by French chef
Michel Guérard
Michel Guérard (; born 27 March 1933) is a French chef, author, one of the founders of ''nouvelle cuisine'', and the inventor of ''cuisine minceur''.
Early life and education
Michel Guérard was born in 1933 in the Paris suburb of Vétheuil. At ...
, which recreated lighter versions of traditional
nouvelle cuisine
''Nouvelle cuisine'' (; ) is an approach to cooking and food presentation in French cuisine. In contrast to cuisine classique, an older form of haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and an increased e ...
dishes. Contemporary critics acknowledged that the minceur versions by Guérard tasted better and were less filling than their nouvelle cuisine originals.
Aldo Buzzi
Aldo Buzzi (10 August 1910 – 9 October 2009) was an author and architect.
Born in Como, Italy, Buzzi graduated from the Milan School of Architecture in 1938. Though primarily an author of travel and gastronomy books, he also worked as an arch ...
''L'uovo alla kok''
History
In the 1960s, along with
Paul Bocuse
Paul Bocuse (; 11 February 1926 – 20 January 2018) was a French chef based in Lyon who was known for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine.
A student of Eugénie Brazier, he was one of the most prominent ...
,
Alain Chapel
Alain Chapel (; 30 December 1937 – 10 July 1990) was a French chef, credited with being one of the originators of Nouvelle Cuisine. He earned three Michelin stars.
Early life
Chapel was born in Lyon, the son of Maître d' Charles and his wi ...
, and Jean and
Pierre Troisgros
Pierre Troisgros (3 September 1928 – 23 September 2020) was a French chef and restaurateur, best known for his restaurant Frères Troisgros. Pierre Troisgros and his brother continued their father's restaurant Hôtel Moderne, where they inven ...
, "Guérard was a nouvelle cuisine pioneer who ... disrupted restaurant culture ... Breaking away from the long-established rules of French
haute cuisine
''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is the cuisine of "high-level" establishments, gourmet restaurants, and luxury hotels. ''Haute cuisine'' is characterized by the meticulous preparation and careful presentation of food at a high pri ...
, the group pushed for food to look and taste more like the stuff it’s actually made from, to be leaner and lighter and brighter."
In 1974 chef Guérard arrived in
Eugénie-les-Bains
Eugénie-les-Bains (; oc, Las Aigas) is a commune in the Landes department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France.
Eugénie-les-Bains is best known for housing a spa resort and three restaurants, all belonging to chef Michel Guérard, invent ...
and, with his wife Christine Barthelemy, began renovating a
spa
A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...
resort which Barthelemy had been running, and which was owned by Guérard's father-in-law. Guérard began thinking about how he could persuade Parisians to make the 500-mile trek to the spa and his restaurant. The spas were for
health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
benefits and his creation - ''cuisine minceur'' - became the logical avenue for his new form of low-
calorie
The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...
cooking.
Guerard states he created "great slimming cuisine" when he moved to Eugénie in 1974, an area where patients with metabolic diseases used its hot springs. Guerard wanted cuisine that was more appealing than diet food but low in extra fat, sugar, and salt,
saying he "realized the extent of despair towards food" that overweight patients at the spa were facing.
On February 9, 1976, the method received new attention in the press when Guerard was featured on the cover of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' with a cartoon of Guerard, and the line "The new gourmet law: hold the butter."
Books
*''Cuisine Gourmande'' by Michel Guerard
*''La Grande Cuisine minceur'' by Michel Guerard
References
External links
Michel Guerard website
French cuisine
{{France-cuisine-stub