The culinary world is sometimes said to be bipolar: there are dreamers who conceptualise cutting edge ways of cooking and dining, and then there are the pragmatists who prefer classics done well.
Emmanuel Renaut is a little bit of both, but only because the trending idea is one he has lived for most of his life. The 48-year-old chef of three-Michelin-starred Flocons de Sel in the mountainous area of Megeve has always been a forager long before the likes of Noma popularised the notion. The restaurant is part of a small five-star hotel. Today, his staff go out foraging twice a day for lunch and dinner service as well as sourcing for produce and ingredients from suppliers up to 100km around the restaurant.
“For me, it’s a way of life and has been since even before I became a chef,” he says. Here’s more.
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Emmanuel Renaut is a little bit of both, but only because the trending idea is one he has lived for most of his life. The 48-year-old chef of three-Michelin-starred Flocons de Sel in the mountainous area of Megeve has always been a forager long before the likes of Noma popularised the notion. The restaurant is part of a small five-star hotel. Today, his staff go out foraging twice a day for lunch and dinner service as well as sourcing for produce and ingredients from suppliers up to 100km around the restaurant.
“For me, it’s a way of life and has been since even before I became a chef,” he says. Here’s more.
The exterior of Flocons de Sel showcasing the beauty of the region.
Tell us more about the area you live and work in – have you always lived there?
I grew up near Paris but moved to Megeve 20 years ago. There’s 50 of us altogether in the restaurant and the hotel, including everyone from the bistro to the spa. We have 10 rooms, one spa and a restaurant.
In a small village like us, it’s important to have a hotel for the guests, unlike a big city. It’s a small town of less than 3000 people so it’s very important to keep the guests and let them stay for two days or so and relax. Here, everybody knows each other, if you meet somebody in the village you say hello.
Why did you decide to set up a restaurant in the mountains?
You know, if I’m not a chef, I would still stay in the mountains. I love skiing, I love climbing – it’s nice to mix two passions together.
What about the food that you do?
We source our food from the lake, the forests, we have a few persons picking roots, leaves, herbs and flowers. Around the restaurant, we have five gardens.
We also try to source all around 100km around the Megeve. It’s important because it’s how we get the best produce. If vegetables or meat spends three days in a box or fridge, the taste is not the same. During summer, we go twice a day to pick herbs for service in the morning for lunch and again in the late evening for dinner service.
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I grew up near Paris but moved to Megeve 20 years ago. There’s 50 of us altogether in the restaurant and the hotel, including everyone from the bistro to the spa. We have 10 rooms, one spa and a restaurant.
In a small village like us, it’s important to have a hotel for the guests, unlike a big city. It’s a small town of less than 3000 people so it’s very important to keep the guests and let them stay for two days or so and relax. Here, everybody knows each other, if you meet somebody in the village you say hello.
Why did you decide to set up a restaurant in the mountains?
You know, if I’m not a chef, I would still stay in the mountains. I love skiing, I love climbing – it’s nice to mix two passions together.
What about the food that you do?
We source our food from the lake, the forests, we have a few persons picking roots, leaves, herbs and flowers. Around the restaurant, we have five gardens.
We also try to source all around 100km around the Megeve. It’s important because it’s how we get the best produce. If vegetables or meat spends three days in a box or fridge, the taste is not the same. During summer, we go twice a day to pick herbs for service in the morning for lunch and again in the late evening for dinner service.
Is that enough?
We do 60 guests by day so it’s enough.
Have you always foraged for produce?
It’s been my life. Even before I was a chef I was already picking my own mushrooms. It’s a way of life for me, it’s normal.
Some people call it a trend, what do you think of that? You know, before, people preferred molecular cuisine, now its natural cuisine. There are people who do their own things, and then there are people who follow them. It’s better to do what you want and not be a follower. It’s more important to have your signature in a dish and the way you create a dish. There’s too many “fashionable food” these days. For me, what I do is simple. I put a piece of the mountain on the plate.
Recommended reading: View more stories on chefs here
We do 60 guests by day so it’s enough.
Have you always foraged for produce?
It’s been my life. Even before I was a chef I was already picking my own mushrooms. It’s a way of life for me, it’s normal.
Some people call it a trend, what do you think of that? You know, before, people preferred molecular cuisine, now its natural cuisine. There are people who do their own things, and then there are people who follow them. It’s better to do what you want and not be a follower. It’s more important to have your signature in a dish and the way you create a dish. There’s too many “fashionable food” these days. For me, what I do is simple. I put a piece of the mountain on the plate.
Recommended reading: View more stories on chefs here
