It is a somewhat mystical place: a 12th century abbey that became a royal necropolis, transformed into a prison during the Revolution, then into a cultural site shrouded in mystery with its tower bristling with chimneys whose function still eludes historians. Undoubtedly, Fontevraud Abbey (Maine-et-Loire) offers a favorable setting for expressing one’s spiritual fiber. And that’s what Thibaut Ruggeri, the estate’s chef, does for whom the moon plays a central role.
At the gourmet restaurant of the abbey, the unique menu bears the name of the star and is renewed every 29.5 days, with each cycle. “It’s a way of anchoring my fascination for the moon”explains the chef who has nothing of a genius: winner of the highly technical Bocuse d’Or competition in 2013, his work has also been rewarded with a Michelin star and three Gault et Millau toques.
Thibaut Ruggeri is not the only one to structure his cuisine around lunar cycles. Since there are only a handful of leaders today, we cannot speak of a fundamental movement, but the phenomenon is interesting because it is recent and takes root in various places, disconnected from each other.
In Spain, Ignacio Echapresto, chef at Venta Moncalvillo in Daroca de Rioja, a small village in the Rioja region, also claims to be from the moon. Just like the South African Michael Chapman, based in Heckfield Place, a luxury hotel in Hampshire (England). Above all, the influential Italo-Argentinian Mauro Colagreco, whose three-star restaurant Mirazur in Menton (Alpes-Maritimes) was crowned “best restaurant in the world” in 2019, redesigned all his cuisine around the moon after the first wave of Covid-19.
But what does it mean to cook with the moon? The answers diverge, as do the motivations of the leaders. The least original option is to transpose the principles of biodynamic agriculture into the kitchen. This movement founded at the beginning of the XXᵉ century by the Austrian polygrapher Rudolf Steiner supposes that the moon has an influence on the growth of plants, and that there would therefore be more favorable times to harvest them, when they would be at their maximum potential. .
“Five years ago, we realized that global warming was disrupting the seasons, the growth rate of fruits and vegetables. So we said to ourselves that we were going to cook as we gardened, that is to say in biodynamics, by adapting to the cycles of the moon and the development of the plants “, remembers Ignacio Echapresto. According to the Spanish chef awarded with a Michelin star, “During the waning moon and the new moon, the gravitational force of the star causes the sap to descend into the earth and the root vegetables have more taste, colors, aromas”. This would therefore be the time to prepare vegetables in brine, since their nutritional and taste properties would be accentuated, and they would keep longer.
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