Only an excerpt of this article survives in the archive. The recovered text is preserved below.
“Here we are in a situation approaching fantasy…in agreeing to a rendezvous, the two accomplices lead us to an unexpected pleasure garden…The scent is ravishing… the duo throb(s) with life.” What? No. I’m not reading a “novel” with Fabio on the cover. Who needs Fabio and Christian Grey if you have Alain Passard. Those are just a few quotes from his book, The Art of Cooking with Vegetables. Clearly the man loves his vegetables. And clearly, he’s French. I first read about Alain Passard while on a plane to France in the early 2000s, an article featuring his kitchen garden long before that became de rigeur. His three Michelin-star restaurant, L’Arpege, while not vegetarian, was one of the first to focus its menu on vegetables. I’ve been following him since — which is not as easy as it is to follow today’s “rock star” chefs. Last year, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of L’Arpege, he released his book, a slim volume with 48 recipes accompanied with his own minimalist collages instead of photographs — eschewing the maximalist photography-recipe-tomes that seem to be today’s requirement. The recipes spoke for themselves. I’m only half exaggerating when I say that I read this [...]