“After confinement, I launched the Achi restaurant, to make a connection with the land, to talk about agriculture through the plate”

Even though I am a restaurateur today, I am a farmer at heart. This is what drives me and motivates me. I grew up in the world of gastronomy, thanks to my father, Jean-Charles Vaillant, a renowned culinary photographer. Throughout his career, he has photographed dishes, products, recipes, people. I never sat in a restaurant with him, but I frequently accompanied him on shoots with chefs.

My father is also a very good cook, who cooks more or less elaborate dishes for pleasure: French classics, like beef bourguignon or petit salé with lentils, Italian inspirations, like leek with parmesan cream, and all kinds desserts, puff pastry, apples from the orchard, walnut tarts from my grandmother’s century-old walnut tree. She had a beautiful vegetable garden in the Vosges. I went there every summer as a child. There were the harvests, the maintenance of the orchard, the pruning of the trees, the picking of strawberries, beans, and potatoes. I experienced all of this and that’s where my connection to the earth was born.

I did a scientific baccalaureate, then a BTS in photography. Inspired by my father, I thought, for a time, of getting into photojournalism. I went to do an internship with the famous photojournalist of Iranian origin Reza, who told me: “If you want to do photojournalism, do geopolitics first. » So I went to study political science at the University of Paris-VIII-Vincennes – Saint-Denis, where I passionately studied sociology, philosophy, history… I became aware of the extent to which the world was not going well.

Seasonal and affordable

Little by little, the desire to be a photojournalist gave way to the desire to change everything. In 2015, after our studies, there was a collective momentum within my group of friends. We were 23 years old, it was COP21 and we felt the urgency to act, to imagine new models. We talked about agriculture, food, textiles. Ideas were flowing, projects were being launched. I moved to the Landes, with a friend specializing in agroforestry, to set up a small market gardening farm. It was a precarious lease on 3 hectares, we had crazy dreams, we wanted to grow organic vegetables, plant cover, put back hedges everywhere. But we weren’t prepared enough and we got fired after two years.

I returned to Paris, I took over the management of a bistro, then, after confinement, I launched the Achi restaurant, to make a connection with the land, to talk about agriculture, agricultural products and practices across the plate. I think it’s the best way in town to bring up these topics that no one talks about, when everyone needs to eat.

On the menu here, a short, seasonal and affordable menu, there is always a suspended soup, that is to say offered by customers for those who cannot afford it. At the moment, it’s a mushroom soup, my little boy’s favorite dish. Through this simple and tasty dish, we talk about urban cultures, nourishing stories, sustainable products. The idea is that everyone can sit down at the table and get people talking.