Everywhere in France, chefs and producers, but also distribution channels, join forces to feed caregivers.
The initiative launched by the journalist Stéphane Méjanès and combined with that of the chef at the Élysée kitchens, Guillaume Gomez, has been successful (“the chefs with the carers”). For the past 15 days now, chefs and cooks have been struggling to serve meals to hospital services all over France. All safety instructions and barrier gestures are obviously applied to the letter.
Our list is far from exhaustive. Numerous collectives, associating markets, halls and chefs, also work anonymously, such as in Rennes (with the help of the association Les P’tits Doudous of the CHU de Rennes) or in Nîmes (CHU Carémeau).
Let us cite some of these chiefs and some of their initiatives.
- We saw Michel Sarran (Toulouse) distributing croque-monsieur at the CHU in Toulouse.
- Simone Zanoni, chef at Le George (Paris), cooks for the children of caregivers in Versailles (he has long worked as a chef at the Trianon Palace) in collaboration with many craftsmen and suppliers.
- In Giverny, David Gallienne, the chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant Le Jardin des Plumes and Top Chef candidate, cooks for the hospitals located in Mantes-La-Jolie, Evreux and Vernon. He mobilized all of his suppliers and producers, and even a mill that grinds the fresh flours he needs every night to make his pastries.
- No gluten for Nadia Sammut (Auberge La Fenière, in Cadenet) but pastries (gluten-free, because the manager suffers from celiac disease) for the caregivers of Marseille hospitals, made thanks to crowdfunding.
- Christophe Aribert (Maison Aribert, 2 stars in Uriage) wanted to bring his “little stone to the building” by preparing dishes for the care team of the Grenoble-Alpes University Hospital (Chuga).
- Thirty chefs from the Nantes region provide 300 meals a day to caregivers at the Nantes University Hospital, in partnership with the Nantes national interest market (MIN).
- In Grignan, the Michelin-starred chef of Clair de la Plume, Julien Allano started to deliver meals to the CHU de Montélimar.
- In Annecy, a group of chefs – Laurent Petit (Le Clos des Sens, 3 stars), Yoann Conte (Restaurant Yoann Conte, 2 stars), Jean Sulpice (Restaurant Jean Sulpice, 2 stars) or Stéphane Dattrino (L’Esquisse, 1 star) and Florian Favario (L’Auberge de Montmin, 1 star) – will deliver meals to Annecy hospital. All menus will be cooked with local products from local producers.