Gérald Passedat: 'Culinary literature is fertile ground
At the helm of the kitchen at Le Petit Nice since 2000, a three-star restaurant perched above the Mediterranean that inspires him, Gérald Passedat elevates fish, shellfish, and crustaceans from the deep blue while honoring its resources.
At the helm of the kitchen at Le Petit Nice since 2000, a three-star restaurant perched above the Mediterranean that inspires him, Gérald Passedat elevates fish, shellfish, and crustaceans from the deep blue while honoring its resources.
YOU’VE AUTHORED THREE COOKBOOKS, INCLUDING THE BEAUTIFUL FROM THE ABYSS TO THE LIGHT IN 2013, REISSUED AND EXPANDED IN 2023. WHAT SPARKED YOUR DECISION TO PUBLISH YOUR RECIPES?
The cuisine I developed was so polarizing from the start that I thought, ‘something is really happening here.’ So I decided to share my recipes with all their particularities to tell the story of my cooking, rooted in sustainable fishing, in forgotten fish species, and also built around the Cretan diet, the Mediterranean way of eating, with no cream or butter, but rather based on extractions, garum, olive oil, and vegetable broths. From the Abyss to the Light sums up the work of a lifetime in the kitchen, but it’s not the end. One never stops creating or improving.
DID YOU WANT TO LEAVE A MARK THROUGH THIS BOOK?
Whether this book leaves a mark or not is not for me to decide. At some point, it might leave a trace—if only for a few people who can appreciate the way I approach Mediterranean seafood cuisine. Possibly for younger generations, it could be either a source of inspiration or, on the contrary, something negative, something they can't bear to do. I think in either case, it’s interesting to understand and observe.
WE’RE DROWNING IN COOKBOOKS, WHAT DOES THIS OVERABUNDANCE OF PUBLICATIONS INSPIRE IN YOU?
Excuse me, but we’re seeing a bit of everything, and anything! These days, as soon as you know how to make a tart or a meatball, you publish a book! Culinary literature is fertile ground, but we may well be exhausting its resources.
YOU’VE ALWAYS EVOLVED IN A CULTURALLY RICH ENVIRONMENT. HAS READING ALWAYS PLAYED A ROLE IN YOUR LIFE?
As a teenager, aside from François Villon, whom I was forced to read, I wasn’t much of a reader. To be honest, I didn’t care about literature. In truth, I was reading what my parents read: Camus, Kessler, and so on. My appetite for reading came a bit later, when I became aware of my intellectual shortcomings. I began to nourish myself with photography, cinema, and great films like Citizen Kane by Orson Welles. As for books, the novels of Marguerite Yourcenar were a true literary revelation for me. I then discovered the works of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Giono, George Orwell, and Milan Kundera, as well as Greek mythology, which fascinates me.
CULT BOOK
My favorite book is Cuisine messine by Ernest Auricoste de Lazarque. I love this work with its very simple recipes, where there’s already mention of four-spice blends and many elements that feel very contemporary. And yet, it’s an old book, nearly 100 years old already!
First published in 1890, this book is actually 134 years old.
TIME
I read to fall asleep, at night, around one in the morning.
Elon
I have several bedside books at the moment, but if I had to name one, I have to admit I'm reading the biography of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson (2023, Fayard) — because it makes me laugh!
LAST EMOTION
I absolutely loved Poems by Oscar Wilde (1881, David Bogue). I read them constantly, simply because I love them.
By Jean-Pierre Montanay
Photo by Richard Haughton
