| |
 |
|
The French World of Cheese:
Of Excellence and Honor
PARIS -- Cheesemonger Marie Quatrehomme – the
food trade’s very first female Meilleur Ouvrier
de France – is elated. This Parisian is no longer
alone. At the recent awards ceremony for the “best
workers in France ‘’ in the cheese category,
Marie hugged the newest female MOF, Josiane Deal of the
cheese shop Lou Canestéou in the Provençal
village of Vaison-la-Romaine. And this is no small matter.
 In a day when the French 35-hour-work week continues
to take slams, one rarely talks about the hordes of
manual workers – the majority of them self-employed
-- for whom that number of hours would be considered
a laughable, half-time job.
The MOF story really begins at the end of the 19th
century, when the French state realized that easily
one third of its population – skilled manual workers
in all trades – was being cheated of reaching
for or attaining honors for their excellence. In a country
that has always given greater credence to intellectual
endeavors and thus honors, all the stone-masons and
chefs, carpenters and bakers, tile experts and butchers
were left to complete their careers – no matter
how excellent – without a word of praise or recognition
from the state.
As an attempt to correct the imbalance – and
give manual workers a serious goal and official recognition – les
Meilleurs Ouvriers de France was created. It is not
an easy honor to attain, and is not – as many
assume – a
cushy rubber stamp or a pat on the back from the government
for a nice job done. Today, some 180 manual trades --
from rare specialties such as glyptique (an expertise
in the jewelry-making trade) and on to team efforts
in the aeronautics industry -- undergo separate competitions
every several years in France.
In Josiane’s case, the road to MOF began two
years ago, when a application and months of study led
her to her final goal. In order to be selected as a
finalist – some 35 presented themselves as candidates,
12 where chosen as finalists, 6 were selected as laureates – Josiane
and her fellow cheese shop owners from all corners of
France were subjected to intensive written and oral
examinations on the history of cheese, cheesemaking
and cheese aging and presented an extensive array of
no less that 30 cheeses to judges who tasted and commented
on each and every cheese, examining aesthetics, aging
quality, flavor. They even underwent exams in English
as judges appeared as customers eager to sample a series
of cheese, with advice on accompanying wines. Once chosen
as a finalist, Josiane, along with her husband, Christian,
spent every off hour for a year devoted to creating
a “chef d’ouevre,” a complex cheese
display designed to best present dozens of their very
finest cheeses in their very best state. (MOF director
Jean-Pierre Boisivon and his staff estimate that on
the average a candidate devotes 1,700 hours to creating
his work of art.) The final days also included rigorous
written and oral exams.
Perhaps one of the best-know MOF in France is chef
Paul Bocuse, who along with chef Joël Robuchon
have supported the MOF chef category for years, tutoring
and encouraging young chefs to reach for the stars.
Today, the competition in the chef category is the largest
in the MOF firmament, with some 500 candidates, 48 finalists
and 24 winners in the latest competition. In recent
years, the food trade category of MOF has expanded greatly,
and now along with pastry chefs and butchers, chocolate
makers and sommeliers, also includes maitre d’hotel.
Except for the cheese category, there are no female
MOF laureates in any of the other food trades.
As Boisivon points out, the entire program is about
much more than just “giving away medals.” Along
with acknowledging the excellent work of manual tradesmen,
the program is there to transmit knowledge and expertise
within the trade itself.
“When you have done something so very exceptional
in your life, you are transformed. It is very important
for a society to honor discipline and excellence. The
route of the MOF is a great human adventure,” adds
the MOF chief.
“There are some specialties – such as very
specific styles of lace-making – that may have
only five candidates. But if we kill the MOF competitions
in that area, we could kill the tradition itself,” he
notes.
Once the MOF award is given, laureates find their lives
are changed forever. While devotion to a trade may be
geographically limited to a village or a city, laureates
find that requests to share their passions quickly cover
the country. When I invited Marie Quatrehomme to lunch
after the ceremonies, she declined, noting that she
had an appearance at the French senate nearby, to give
awards to young students. Meanwhile, Josiane and Christian
hopped on the TGV south, arriving in Avignon to a soccer
star’s welcome from friends and family.
“Her life will never be the same.” says
Boisivon, who personally encouraged Josiane to go for
the magic ring. Now she is preparing to take her chef
d’ouevre around France, first to the Agriculture
Fair in Paris, later to a major MOF event in Poitiers.
As she awaits the arrival of her official white chef’s
jacket with the bright red and blue MOF stripes around
the collar, she’s there behind the counter at
Lou Canesteou, advising, suggesting, and, yes, smiling
just a little bit.
Fromagerie Quatrehomme
62, rue de Sèvres
75007 Paris
Telephone : 01 47 34 33 45
Fax : 01 43 06 06 96
Closed Sunday.
Lou Canestéou
10, rue Raspail
84110 Vaison-la-Romaine
Telephone: 04 90 36 31 30
Fax : 04 90 36 79 33
Closed Sunday and Wednesday afternoons.
|
