Commenting
on the success and longevity of the program, Margrit Biever Mondavi, Vice President
of Cultural Affairs said, "A quarter of a century of
experience with the Great Chefs program has proven invaluable. Our guests
leave the course with new insight into cooking techniques and
presentation, knowing that they can now reproduce at home certain
signature dishes of celebrated chefs. And the knowledge they gain in wine
selection leads to increased enjoyment of fine dining and entertaining."
But
for Margrit Mondavi, it has been even more than that. Twenty six years of working
side by side with the world's most gifted chefs, has left her with a distinct advantage.
Living her life as a work of art in progress, she has accumulated a reservoir of
insights. In sharing her thoughts about the weekend with Jean Georges, Margrit glows
as she comments, "Jean Georges is one of my favorites.
He has genius. His real introduction to the absolute delicacy of the
tongue, the balance in the food,& that you could have a great meal for
lunch, and you wanted more for dinner."
Her respect for genius is apparent as she recollects some of the greatest chefs
she has observed. She leans back in her chair and speaks softly as she recollects,
"In 26 years .
ones most I was most impressed with . . . Jean-Claude Roux,
Michel Gerald, Joel Rubichon, Alaine Chapel, they had genius. Jean Georges
has genius. Roubouchon, he was big in commercial, but when he went back
into the kitchen, he went back into his genius. And Alaine Chapel, he died
two years ago, but he was great, he was genius. There are hard workers,
and there are great chefs, and there are great creators; and then
there are the ones that have genius. . . . It is something in their
presence, you don't have to be told . The way they taste, put the right
stuff together, blend, and know, and have a relationship to the
ingredients, and then create it, and then others . I've watched chefs that
never taste it and you know they don't have genius. And then you had some
that almost had it, and then you had some that did very good work, but
didn't quite have the genius but were still very
good"
Previous | Next | Table of Contents | www.fbworld.com
|
