Fabrice Desvignes passed from the stoves of the Senate to those of the Presidency of the Republic nine months ago. This native of Saint-Quentin is revealing his chef’s secrets for the first time.
Do not count on him to tell you what Brigitte Macron is crazy about. Do not count on him to put himself forward either. “Discretion is my trademark,” sums up Fabrice Desvignes. At 48 years old, this native of Saint-Quentin (Aisne) has been, since March, the chef of the Elysée kitchens, succeeding Guillaume Gomez, twenty-five years in the house. On his jacket, traces of a rare double: Bocuse d’or 2007, the Nobel for gastronomy, and Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2015.
A family of stars
Cooking is a family affair. Her grandmother, Paula Lequy, her mother, Annie Desvignes, and her uncle won the Michelin star. In the 1950s, after the bankruptcy of her husband, a seller of oxen, Paula began to cook to support the household. Self-taught, the couple opened the Auberge Fleurie in Sars-Poteries (North). A success. Two Michelin stars for more than ten years.
Annie, their daughter and Fabrice’s mother, works there. In love with a butler by Flora Danica, a famous address on the Champs Elysées, she opens with him the Tour du Roy, in Vervins (Aisne), an institution that has seen François Mitterrand or, more recently, Xavier Bertrand. At 84, Annie Desvignes is still in charge of the establishment. “Mom always told me that she would die in her kitchen,” says the only son.
For the kitchens of the Senate, “I just sent my CV”
Destined to take over the family business, he will officiate there only six months, to help, returning from a military service carried out in the kitchens of the Ministry of Defense, then three years spent in Switzerland in prestigious establishments (Beau Rivage Genève , Bernard Ravet). In 1999, he responded to an advertisement for the kitchens of the Senate Presidency. “I just sent my CV. I was the only one caught having sent his CV, ”he recalls. He spent more than twenty years there. At the Élysée, neither advertisement nor CV. He is canvassed.
From time to time, he offers the presidential couple a culinary nod to Hauts-de-France.
He serves his first meal on March 16. He doesn’t remember the menu, isn’t the type to keep. In July, for the reception of the Club des chefs des chefs, one of its first events, he serves artichoke with foie gras, pre-salted lamb barrel and chocolate soufflé. In November, he cooks for Kamala Harris, the American vice-president and ends the year with Christmas for the troops, a meal prepared at the Elysee Palace and sent to Mali (Emmanuel Macron and himself were to attend but the trip has been canceled because of the health crisis, Editor’s note). He likes foie gras, which is the subject of so much debate. “We do not put too much, but we do. We have traditions. Those who don’t want to eat it don’t eat it. ” From time to time, on a menu, he gives the presidential couple a nod to Hauts-de-France, which they have in common. Rather potjevleesch than maroilles.
He is not very active on social networks. “We work for an institution, the first house in France. The position is exciting enough that I take care of her completely. There is only one leader, it is the President of the Republic, he confides. I’m not trying to make myself known. I like to bring the best of our French terroirs to the plates and to promote the products of our regions. It’s my way of communicating ”.
He instructs his suppliers not to say anything either and does not tell them which people will be served. “I ask the people who work with us for a certain discretion. We also work with several producers, all over France. It is a pride for them to offer their products to the Presidency of the Republic, and an honor for me and the teams to work on them ”.
When he recruits, his first instruction is: “If you enter this institution, you have to be irreproachable. We represent a country ”. “Beyond this discipline, I also seek in the cooks that I integrate into the teams a certain form of commitment, of envy,” he adds. We do not prepare food only for the President, his wife or the advisers, but also for the guests of the Presidency, like the counterparts of the Head of State. We also cook for all the staff of the Palace, who number several hundred ”.
Married, Chef Desvignes is the father of four daughters, aged 19 to 8. None has a vocation for cooking: “I train my daughters so that they can manage on their own. What I instill in them: be autonomous in your life, do not expect anything other than your autonomy. ”
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