Goût de France, a century-old festival that has united culinary experts, food enthusiasts, and chefs from all over the world, is a unique event wherein 1,500 chefs serve their menus in the French style with aperitifs, cold and hot starters, fish, shellfish, and poultry or meat, accompanied by chocolates, cheese and, of course, French wine. All the restaurants work on the same menu during the same period – March 21, 22 and 23.

Encouraged by the resounding success of this event last year, the students and professors of the Vatel School of Hospitality Management put up 3 days of French gastronomical delights again this year and produced delicacies like Sole Paupiette, Croque-Monsieur, broken wheat and sprout salad, zucchini, olive and tomato quiche, prawns thermidor, crème brulée, assortment de gateaux, and fruits parfait.

The festival was culminated by the morning’s event and lunch which was attended by personalities like Mr. K. B. Kachru, Chairman Emeritus and Principal Advisor of the Carlson Rezidor Hotel group; Chef Devendra Kumar, the President of the Indian Culinary Forum and Vice President of Food Production at Le Méridien in New Delhi; Eric Boutté, a Michelin-star Chef at L’Aubergade in Lille France; and Prof. Stéphan Collet of École Saint-Martin in France.

Addressing participants at the Vatel School of Hospitality Management at Ansal University in Gurgaon during the “Gȏut de France/Good France” celebration that was organized from March 21-23, 2018 by the Vatel School Hospitality Management at Ansal University in Gurgaon, Chef Éric Boutté advised the young and upcoming hoteliers that they should have love and passion for food and must keep their cooking style simple. Nothing big can be ever achieved without hard work, he said.

Goût de France/Good France is a unique global event held on 5 continents in over 150 countries which, for this fourth consecutive year, involved French embassies abroad and chefs from around the world. Goût de France (taste of France) – pronounced more conveniently by the English-speaking people as Good France aims at giving to the entire world a taste of its cuisine by way of dedicating 3 complete days in the month of March. They all offer “French menus” on the same day.

This initiative commemorating with the worldwide edition of Good France, featuring French gastronomy, was organized by the school with the aim of understanding the art and attributes of French cooking and to explore French gastronomy in a broader sense. “Gȏut de France,” along with a sumptuous lunch, was organized by the students in the school honoring French cuisine. The students not only took part with great enthusiasm but also learned about French delicacies and their preparation.

A series of workshops, guest lectures, and public lectures were organized during this week to celebrate Good France. Support from the hotel industry and French Embassy was very encouraging.

Michelin-starred Chef Eric Boutté guided students towards achieving goals through perfection and the shared recipe of cooking with emotions and feelings.

M. Stéphane Collet, Professor of Hotel Management School at Amiens, France, was the other speaker on the occasion – one of the rare moments when experts from the field addressed the audience.

Sharing his opinion Mr. K.B. Kachru said: “French cuisine is the mother of all cuisines. Food is what unites the peoples and regions of this world. The opportunities in this trade are never-ending; millions of jobs will be up for grabs in the near future.”

Chef Davendra Kumar advised future hospitality aspirants that the tourism industry is growing by leaps and bounds – if you want to succeed, the basic aspects of hospitality should be clear in your mind, he said. Today the world is becoming very competitive but only the best is being awarded Padma-Shree Awards.

Mr. Thierry Morel, the Second Counsellor, Embassy of France, was among some of the other invitees besides Chef Sudarshan Bhandari and Chef Bhanu Singharia, who participated in the event during the celebration and graced the occasion.

On the occasion, Dr. Raj Singh, Vice Chancellor, Ansal University, said that it’s food that connects people together. Whether it’s social functions, bilateral agreements, or any other important function. He also advised students to be hungry for knowledge and emphasized to them to develop their personality by learning skills and the correct attitude.

On this special occasion, Dean and Prof. R. K. Bhandari said that in response to rapidly-changing industry needs, institutions need to empower students with knowledge and skills to meet today’s challenges and prepare them to grasp tomorrow’s opportunities. He said this school is committed to educate the next generation of leaders for the world’s largest and most dynamic industry and will work towards organizing many such activities of international repute.

Seeing the growth and demand in the hospitality industry in the coming future, he emphasized the need for qualified people in this sector and said the proposed program of MBA in International Hospitality Management in association with Vatel at the Tourism and Business School (France) and Diploma in Culinary Art will be an important step in the direction of creating world-class manpower for this most dynamic industry.

Mr. Laurant Guiraud, Director of Vatel at the Ansal University, summed up the celebration by proposing a vote of thanks to all present for their contribution in making the event successful, and for the dynamic ideas given by all to give to this festival the true colors and taste of France.