The story is based on a two-year period when François Mitterrand, then president of France, hired a personal cook, ruffling the feathers of the official in-house Elysée chef. In 1988, Mr. Mitterrand had just been re-elected for another seven years and began his new term by proclaiming in front of an adviser: “I want a woman from the country in my kitchen!” The search led to a recommendation by the Michelin-starred chef Joël Robuchon: Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch, a cook from the Périgord region, who had founded Foie Gras Weekend, a pioneering class teaching the region’s cuisine, as well as creating the École d’Art et Tradition Culinaire du Périgord, the area’s first … Continue reading Jean d’Ormesson, Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch