Three-star Michelin Chef Guy Martin is not one for fads. His take on the vegan lifestyle for instance, that is all the rage these days is summed up in a brief parable that involves the digestive system of a cow. “A cow has four stomachs, we have one. I say, choose what you eat. But eat like a human,” says the 60-year-old.
Sage advice, we think. After all, how often does your appetiser involve a biology lesson that is cruelty-free?
Martin is the chef-owner of the oldest restaurant in Paris, Le Grand Véfour that has hosted guests like French writer Victor Hugo and, believe it or not, was the same spot where Napolean Bonaparte proposed to his wife. The master of French cuisine was invited to Chennai at the behest of the Paris Regional Tourism Board to whip up a feast for the launch of a new flight between Chennai and Paris.
Lounging in the lobby of the Park Hyatt Chennai, Martin and our translator, find ourselves conversing on everything from organic ingredients to Lady Gaga. “Who is that?” he jokes. As someone who dropped out of school to pursue a career in pop music back in the day, we make it a point to raise our eyebrows. “Give me Pink Floyd or The Rolling Stones, that’s the era I am from,” he says with a smile. “Did I tell you about the day I got to chat with Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman (former members of The Rolling Stones)?” he says, with a twinkle in his eye.
Sadly, his first love, a guitar at 16, was left behind when he joined a pizzeria to make some money, and from there on developed an obsession with trying new recipes.
“I picked up a book with beautiful pictures of food from around the world. And after my shift ended at midnight, I would go home, wake up at 3 am, study what I wanted to try and get cooking at 5 am.” For six months, he went at it. “My girlfriend would taste it and tell me if it was good or bad. Once I was done with section A, I’d move on to B, so on and so forth,” he recounts.
Raised in Bourg-Saint-Maurice in the heart of the French Alps, where the fish is so fresh you eat it an hour after it’s caught, a young Martin already had a keen instinct for flavour. “Both my parents were excellent cooks, and good food and wine were tremendously appreciated when I was growing up,” he recalls. “Just last week, I went home unannounced and my father handed me a plate of fresh Cepe de Bordeaux, which is one of the most delicious varieties of mushrooms there is.”
Harnessing the calm of the sweet mountain air from home wherever he is — whether in his kitchen at I Love Paris, at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris (named best airport restaurant in the world last year) or preparing a banquet out in a desert — Martin says his approach to food is always ‘zen’. Quite the opposite of the shouting matches Gordon Ramsey has made popular on reality TV. “My English might be bad,” says Martin in soft spoken French. “But I know my subject. And when you know, you know! So, why stress?”
Naan nee vazhave
What do you like to eat in India?
Cheese naan and Chicken and coconut curry.
Do you watch MasterChef?
I don’t own a TV. When I'm home, I prefer to spend time with my wife and children.
Tell us something we don’t know.
Butter is good for you. It has Vitamin A.