In 2021, the world of cooking lost a legendary figure. Albert Roux,
together with his brother Michel, transformed the way we eat, cook
and appreciate food in this country. It is no exaggeration to say
that most of what makes our current culinary landscape so vibrant
began with these two brothers and their ground-breaking restaurant,
Le Gavroche. Albert first arrived in England in the fifties, at a
time of grey and brown food, with a nation still reeling from the
effects of war and rationing. Cooking in the grand private houses
of the aristocracy, he was to fall in love with the country and,
after his military service, which he spent fighting in the Algerian
Civil War, he would eventually make it his home for life. He and
his brother set up Le Gavroche in 1967. It was to become the first
restaurant in the UK to gain first one, and eventually three,
Michelin stars. Together with their other restaurants, including
the renowned Waterside Inn in Bray, it would go on to revolutionise
the industry. The Roux restaurants set on their course an entire
generation of award-winning chefs: his proteges include Gordon
Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, Rowley Leigh and Monica Galetti, to name
just a tiny fraction. He won every plaudit possible in the world of
food, and was granted an OBE, a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur,
and a papal knighthood. Albert's memoir takes us from his childhood
in wartime France, where the ever-looming presence of the German
troops made it a challenge for his mother to keep the family fed,
right up to the almost instant success of Le Gavroche, which
welcomed everybody from royalty - the Queen Mother and Princess
Diana were both regulars - to Hollywood legends including Charlie
Chaplin. He talks frankly about his famed relationship with his
brother, and about the encounter which derailed his first boyhood
ambition to join the priesthood. His drive, humour and joie de
vivre leap off every page, and the insight into what it took to
break new ground in the restaurant industry is unmatched. These are
the last words from a pioneer, a hero who inspired entire
generations of chefs. They tell the story not only of a titan of a
man, but of an era that shaped the way we cook and eat today.
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