Paul Bocuse: The First Chefpreneur
If you are interested in gastronomy, you may heard the expressions about Marco Pierre White as “rockstar” or “the man who made the cooking profession cool”.
I’m 100% agree with those who think that Marco Pierre White was the rockstar of the culinary world. However, in any kind of market — as you can imagine — first you need to have a popstar before talking about rockstars.
For the culinary world, that popstar — who helped rockstars to grow and find their audience — was Paul Bocuse.
And this is the story about him as a cook, an entrepreneur, and a human being.
Paul Bocuse was born on February 11, 1926, in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, near Lyon, France.
His ancestors were cooking and serving food for seven generations. With this heritage, he made his first dish at the age of 8; veal kidneys with puréed potato.
At an early age, he began his apprenticeship at a local restaurant. But training was interrupted by World War 2. In the army — luckily — he was responsible for the canteen and slaughterhouse.
After the war ended, he resumed his apprenticeship in three Michelin star restaurant, Lâ Mére Brazier.
He worked for the famous Troisgros family in their three-star restaurant Lucas Carton in Paris and for the Fernand…
