Paul Bocuse

Birth Name:

Paul Bocuse

Birth Date:

February 11, 1926

Birth Place:

40 Rue de la Plage, 69660 Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, France

Death Date:

January 20, 2018

Place of Death:

40 Rue de la Plage, 69660 Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, France

Age:

Cause of Death:

Parkinson's disease

Cemetery Name:

Cimetière de Collonges-au-Mont-d-Or

Claim to Fame:

Historical Figure

Paul Bocuse was a French chef based in Lyon who was known for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. A student of Eugénie Brazier, he was one of the most prominent chefs associated with the nouvelle cuisine, which is less opulent and calorific than the traditional cuisine classique, and stresses the importance of fresh ingredients of the highest quality. Bocuse was the incarnation of French gastronomy, a colossus of haute cuisine. His signature dishes not only pleased the palate; they also seduced the eye and piqued the imagination. He stuffed sea bass with lobster mousse and encased it in pastry scales and fins. He poached a truffled Bresse chicken inside a pig’s bladder. Chef Bocuse most famous dish was truffle soup V.G.E., a heady mixture of truffles and foie gras in chicken broth, baked in a single-serving bowl covered in puff pastry. First served at a dinner at the Élysée Palace in 1975, the soup was named for the French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who had just awarded Mr. Bocuse the French Legion of Honor. Through the years Bocuse was among the first chefs to understand the value of publicity, and was a tireless promoter of French food and of his own restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near Lyon. Upon his passing in the very room he was born in just above his signature restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges had maintained their 3-star Michelin rating for over 50 years.

Fun Facts

Although Bocuse was associated in the early 1970s with the rise of nouvelle cuisine, he later dissociated himself from that movement, saying it represented “not enough on your plate and too much on your bill”.

The Culinary Institute of America honoured Bocuse in their Leadership Awards Gala on 30 March 2011. He received the “Chef of the Century” award. In July 2012 the Culinary Institute of America announced in The New York Times that they would change the name of their Escoffier Restaurant to the Bocuse Restaurant, after a year-long renovation.

After a record of 55 years as a 3-star Michelin rated restaurant, the restaurant of famed French chef Paul Bocuse lost its three-star Michelin rating in 2020. L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, known simply as Paul Bocuse, had held its crème de la crème rating since 1965 – a world record. But the Michelin Guide said the food quality was “no longer at the level of three stars”. It will now have two. The restaurant’s loss of a highly coveted third star has shocked France and drawn confusion and outrage from food critics around the world. Food critic Périco Légasse called it “an absurd and unfair decision. Michelin cannot be so stupid,” he said on radio station FranceInfo, arguing that critics agreed the quality of food had improved since Bocuse’s death. Many chefs and food critics agree that the demotion was entirely political as Michelin try to de-emphasize French cuisine and formal dining.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Cimetière de Collonges-au-Mont-d-Or

2 Chemin de Moyrand

Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, , 69660

France

Europe

Grave Location:

Famille Bocuse

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery walk straight ahead to the fourth row on your left and turn left at the monument for Famille Rodarie. Walk three spaces into the row and you will have found the final resting place of master chef and chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, Paul Bocuse.