« We are what we eat », Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

INTRODUCTION

Food professions are the basis of our everyday life. What would become of us without our bakerour butcher or our butcher ?
Some will argue that large and medium-sized stores can replace the shopkeeper downstairs. There are two major objections to this: the professions are not the same, and neither are the services. In addition, supermarkets also have their butchers, bakers, pastry chefs or fishmongers.
As in the brigades of medium and large restaurants where butchers, fishmongers, pastry chefs, sauciers and roasters also work behind the scenes. These “chefs de partie” bring amazing products to a demanding clientele, of course, often loyal because they respect their art.
How to make it understood that all these trades are of a fabulous richness?
Simply by identifying with the pleasure we experience when we use the products that professionals create and prepare for us. These trades offer a wide variety of activities.
The first activity is a very strong link to the products and their precise knowledge, to the quality and to the love of a job well done.
The second is based on the very strong relationship maintained with customers: numerous exchanges, pleasure in customer satisfaction, a very important advisory role, both in the choice of the product and in its preparation. For all these reasons, bakers, butchers and other artisans will certainly be in the best position to provide sound advice and meet the needs of the most demanding.
The third activity brings these professions closer to the notion of art. All food professions offer limitless creative possibilities. Competitions and prizes show in particular the richness and beauty of innovations. Who has never marveled at the splendours of colors and shapes of real food sculptures?
These professions are rich, wages and working conditions are changing widely and in the right direction, awareness of hygiene standards and health risks is now permanent, starting with the apprenticeship.
In this corporation that are the catering trades, it is also necessary to leave a large place to the craftsmen-caterers. Of course, not all of them are called Ours, Fauchon, Hédiard ou Dalloyau (and even Androuet who, if we dare say, stuck to it), but who would prepare, in all peace of mind, our banquet, cocktails, buffets and the - often immense - meal de Baptism or marriage ?
Their activity, like that of their aforementioned colleagues, requires great qualities: a sense of organization and availability, the choice, preparation and conservation of products, and, of course, strict compliance with the rules of hygiene and food safety, in particular that concerning the cold chain.
Like men and chefs, the same goes for establishments providing food and drink. In the restaurant and hotel industry, a world in perpetual evolution (not to speak of turmoil), establishments flourish, transform or disappear over the years or according to the economic interests of owners and investors.
Apart from the major exceptions of establishments which have sometimes spanned several centuries (The Procope, Grand Véfour,  the Ritz in Paris  The Florian in Venice), institutions which are moreover classified as historical monuments, the great majority of the others, restaurants, brasseries, bistros including palaces, are led, one day or another, to disappear or to change hands, and this doing, sometimes by name.
According to the “paper” guides, the attribution of marks (stars, hats, macaroons, forks, etc.) is based on identical criteria in order to guarantee the consistency of the selection. These criteria are generally five in number: the quality of the products, the mastery of cooking and the marriage of flavors, the personality of the chef in his kitchen, the quality / price ratio and consistency over time and on the entire menu. .
Ratings are meant to judge "what's on the plate"; they only reward the quality of the cuisine.
However, we know that the marks are assigned according to other precise criteria such as the framework of the establishment, the quality of the services, the services and the products, by inspectors, anonymous or not, always endowed with specifications. more rigorous, the aim of which is, it is true, not to please restaurant owners, but to satisfy an increasingly cosmopolitan and ever more demanding clientele.
Moreover, most of the clients of these establishments do not seek creativity excessively, some even cannot stand it.
The rankings of the most famous establishments therefore undergo and from one year to the next, consequent modifications, dictated by the talent, the brio but also the rise or the fall of the old ones as the new chefs, because some restaurateurs are able to do something extraordinary one day and much worse the next.
Finally, no restaurant is obliged to accept being classified or starred. It is often the chefs themselves, who are setting the bar higher and higher when no one has asked them to. Some are so proud that they always seek to surpass themselves and to better showcase their cuisine, through subtle flavors, very original decoration or with a setting and a high level of service, even of a very high level.
By subjectively claiming an annual and universal ranking of the best establishments in the world, as the British magazine has been doing since 2002 Restaurants with its list emanating from "The Academy of the fifty best restaurants in the world" (The World's 50 Best Restaurants), it is now necessary to wait several weeks and even several months to be able to obtain a reservation, at breakfast like at dinner, in the top ten (perhaps twenty) establishments on the planet.
At the end of June 2019, and following new selection rules (see the site), the ranking of the first five places of the best restaurants in the world was established as follows:
1. The restaurant Mirazur in Menton, France (Chef: Mauro Colagreco).
2. The Noma restaurant, Copenhagen, Denmark (Chef: Rene Redzepi)
3. The restaurant Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain (Chef: Victor Arguinzoniz)
4. The restaurant Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand (Chef: Gaggan Anand)
5. The restaurant Geranium, Copenhagen, Denmark (Chef: Rasmus Kofoed).

The classification for the year 2020 has been postponed to June 2021 due to the health crisis due to Covid-19.

Among the great culinary institutions, we must mention here theCulinary Academy of France, headquartered at the aptly named rue du Paradis in Paris. It was created in 1883 by the famous Joseph Favré. Its original objective is to provide support to all those who, through their actions, promote French cuisine while respecting its traditions and its development.
Its European counterpart is certainly the Euro-Toques association created in 1986 by Peter romeyer et Paul Bocuse. In 2012, it brought together more than 4000 cooks throughout the European Union.
In parallel to these corporatist associations, other associations, federations and brotherhoods linked to the catering trades, food, and especially regional products, often festive and popular (wines, cold meats, cheeses, confectionery, pastries, etc.) and to the great national specialties that are the fries for the Belgians, the sauerkraut for the Alsatians (and of course the Germans), the cassoulet, distant cousin of the paella, which is itself derived from the Arab couscous, an exceptional dish consumed in southern Spain for more than seven centuries of Arab occupation.
Food festivals and fairs are also part of the local folklore of regions, towns or villages. Some gastronomic events are famous and picturesque such as the alicoque in Provence, the feast of Saint-Vincent in Burgundy or the Bénichon feast in the canton of Friborg in Switzerland which attracts more and more people, anxious to find their roots. in joy, good humor and conviviality. These events are the subject of numerous books and articles in the specialized press or in culinary magazines. Culinary journalists or gastronomic columnists are the real protagonists via their constantly updated sites or their blogs always at the rendezvous of these events (See Gastronomic events in France ).
Nowadays, these gastronomic chroniclers have, it is true, replaced the illustrious writers and gastronomes of the past (Alexandre Grimod de la Reyniere, Brillat Savarin, Lucien Tendret, Maurice Saillant Curnonsky,…). Since 1954 already, they have come together in an association, precisely chaired at the time by Curnonsky: The Professional Association of Columnists and Informants of Gastronomy and Wine, bringing together nearly 500 members, including around 400 journalists who are active members (site internet ofAPCIG).
Among the main objectives of this association, article two of its statutes specifies that it aims to promote and safeguard the culinary art and, in general, all quality food products and to defend moral and professional interests. of its members and the dignity of the profession.
The public authorities, for their part and in response to the serious crises affecting the agro-food sector (Chernobyl, mad cow, avian flu, GMOs) and therefore in the food industry, have set up numerous health organizations, assisted by very modern laboratories. to prevent, manage and control the risks associated with human and animal food, establishing new standards and good agricultural and food practices. In France, the most important of these is ANSES (National Food Safety Agency), which has established bridges with its French-speaking counterparts in Belgium, Canada and Switzerland.
Faced with the urgency of the disappearance of many animal species, fauna and flora, certain ecological and environmental aspects have also been addressed by the creation of an agency at national and European level.
Far below the food security or ecological problem, the French state is also active in the (luxury) comfort of its guests and its well-to-do tourists. Under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism, a jury made up of ten personalities from various backgrounds elected and had the very first “Palace” plaques affixed in 2011 to nine major French establishments which are supposed to represent ”French excellence. ". Five of these are located in the capital.
Finally, we cannot end this introduction to Chefs and food trades without saluting all the eponymous inventors and creators (Marie Brizard, Adolphe and Édouard-Jean Cointreau, Charles Gervais, Antoine-Claude Maille, Henri Nestlé, Philippe Suchard, …) as well as the great unknown inventors that were Franz-Karl Achard (beet sugar), George Crum (apple-crisps), Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès (margarine), Max Morgenthaler (Nescafé). Through their inventions, all these men still feed and embellish our daily lives with simple and good products, which will be consumed (and their brands appreciated) for many years to come, and, for some, for centuries and centuries.

Related Articles:
See Calendar of gastronomic festivals by French region.
See Calendar of gastronomic events by country.

Catering trades

 "Of all the arts, the culinary art is the one that best nourishes its man" 
(Pierre Dac, French humorist)

 "He who does not lick his fingers is a bad cook" 
(William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, scene II)

Photo credits : Most of the photos were taken by the author during (fair) meals or stays in the establishments mentioned.
Otherwise, some photos of the chefs, their establishments and their creations were taken from their respective websites, the internet address of which is mentioned at the end of each entry.
The historical photos of the sculptures, paintings, portraits and self-portraits, sketches and caricatures of the people or characters presented in this book come from search engines on the internet. The museum or the place from which the photos are taken are mentioned.