A BRIEF HISTORY OF….. Fernand Point

The French restaurateur Fernand Point (1897-1955) was the father of modern French cuisine and considered by many to be one of the greatest chefs ever.

His restaurant “La Pyramide” was located near Lyon, France in a small town. From this remote location he earned the three star Michelin Award and trained a generation of French Master chefs including Paul Bocuse and Alain Chapel . Point opened his restaurant shortly after World War I and pioneered many of the aspects of nouvelle cuisine.

As a small boy, he was introduced to cooking by his mother and grandmother, both cordons bleus cooks at his father`s restaurant. Cordon bleus originally referred to an award given to women chefs .Point moved to Lyon in 1922 to pursue his culinary endeavors. He built on the foundations of la grande cuisine and was the culinary and cultural intermediary between Escoffier and nouvelle cuisine. He would often work from five o`clock am until 11 o’clock hand.

Married in 1930, his wife Mary-Louise became an intricate part of the restaurant. She was in charge of service and attended to most all details associated with the business. This allowed Point time to concentrate even more on his remarkable cuisine and the expansion of his restaurant, although he was adamant about limiting the number of seats to fifty.

Fernand Point is not very well known today but his book Ma Gastronomie is an undisputed culinary classic and a “must read” for any serious culinarian.

by Jules Pernell; CEC, CCE, FMP