Guillaume Gomez, the chef of Palais de l’Élysée, the official residence of the President of France, is loath to tell us the favourite foods of the four presidents he has served since his appointment in 1997.
“After First Lady Chirac [the wife of Jacques Chirac, who served as France’s president from 1995 to 2007] told a magazine that her husband’s favourite dish was veal’s head, every single trip and dinner he had he was served the same dish. Then he got sick of it,” he laughs.
As such, we may never know what are the favoured dishes of Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.
But what Gomez can share about his 24-year tenure as the head chef of the Palais is that he has seen a lot of change.
“Now when we plan the menu, we look for seasonal produce, healthy recipes and sustainability too,” he says. “When I started 25 years ago, nobody talked about sustainability. Now we recycle all the garbage.”
Gomez was appointed as the chef of Palais de l’Élysée in 1997, and during his tenure served four French presidents. Photo: Frédérique Touitou
When one thinks of state dinners, lavish multi-course menus served on top-end tableware come to mind, but according to Gomez, the meals shared between world leaders and dignitaries aren’t quite as fun as one might surmise.
Dining and Cooking