Behind every great man hides a woman, says a proverb. Cyril Lignac testifies to this, inspired from his earliest childhood by his mom, Janine. The star chef's mother, who died in 2014, left him a legacy that he will not soon forget. In an interview with Icons hosted by Michel Denisot on the airwaves ofEurope 1, Friday January 22, 2021, the presenter of All in the kitchen confided in the people who gave him a taste for gastronomy. And his mother is one of them. "My first icon is my mom", did he declare. And add: "This is where it all starts, this is where you are given the weapons to fight in life. This is where you build your DNA and your spine." The Aveyronnais then described the frantic pace of this nurse, with tenderness.
This woman, who led her life as a mother and her career, wanted to concoct one of her favorite dishes, which took up a good part of the week: "We grew up in a modest French family, (…) and when Mum worked at the hospital, she was active. She came home late at night, she left early in the morning to go to work. So we had to cook food. she would stir-fry veal on weekends and we would eat it for three days", he said, with a smile on his face, before continuing: "But she made it home and it was very important for her and for my culinary and taste education." Passionate about his job, Cyril Lignac underlined how "the good bases, the feelings and the emotions (regulate all its life), and for always".
"She's on my mind daily"
The pastry chef then spoke of the death of his mother, not without emotion. "My mom is no longer there, of course she is in my head and in my mind every day", he slipped. And to remember: "My mother, that annoyed her, she said to me 'Stop, you will have a life like ours, a house in the Aveyron, a traditional life as you have been educated, who do you think you are?' told me that, the more I saw something else. " Among his icons, there is also Nicole Fagegaltier, whom he considers his professional mother.
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