“How after a poor childhood in the Landes forest, after having been a handyman then a worker, after having worked for more than twenty years at the SNCF, do we find ourselves in front of television cameras explaining how confits are made? ducks? » These few lines can be found on the back cover of a book entitled “It’s quite simple”.
It is in this autobiography, published in 1998 and written in collaboration with Marie-Thérèse Cuny at Robert-Laffont editions, that Maïté, who died on the night of Friday December 20 to Saturday December 21, explains everything about her life. The most famous moments, when she was in the spotlight, like those that the general public ignores. Excerpts.
On his journey
“I started life like everyone else back home, as a farmer. After which, I worked at the SNCF, quite simply. After which, I worked at the SNCF, quite simply. Then I had the chance to run a restaurant and film cooking shows which were successful. And, I don't know how, this luck and this success happened. Because from my point of view, which is still quite high, I wasn't doing anything extraordinary. Pleasing this entire audience, both young people and others, remains inexplicable for me. »
On his life in the Landes
“I come from the depths of the countryside and I still live there, because I am happy only there, at ease only there, among my people. I have a house, a husband, a son, a daughter-in-law and a mother-in-law, dogs (five), chickens and flowers. I live as simply as possible in Rion-des-Landes, bringing in my wood, feeding my chickens, looking after my livestock. At home I don't like to be sophisticated, I don't like big outfits. If anyone comes to see me, they find me in pants, a slut, no makeup, no hair. »
About school
“To go to school, we wore black aprons and clogs. The day was long for the children, getting up at 6 a.m. to help with work, before school, then an hour's journey in clogs and on the way back, in the evening, around 7 a.m., depending on the season, we did the threshing, we brought the hay into the barns, sometimes until midnight. […] Alas, three times alas, I hated school. I was at the back of the class, the biggest, the worst with my big clogs. Nothing pleased me, neither dictation, nor French, nor history, nor arithmetic. »
After her career at SNCF, Maïté ran two restaurants in Rion-des-Landes.
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His passion for theater
“When I wasn't working, I went with my friends to the municipal theater run by the priest. Magnificent pieces were performed there, which the priest wrote himself. I was the clown: I didn't learn any text because, quite simply, I couldn't do it. So I invented, and others had to follow. It was pure improvisation. I played maid roles in comic plays. »
The first jobs
“At 14, I refused to go back to school. So I went to work at the sawmill like everyone else. It was one of three factories in Rion which manufactured parquet flooring, boxes, and types of boards. We planed, transported boards and made pallets. […] Some time later, disaster struck, the factory where I worked burned down. I had to leave to be good in Paris. I was 16 and found myself deprived of all the little joys of Rion. I arrived in Paris, in the middle of summer, with death in my soul. However, I was lucky, I already knew where I was going and what I had to do: look after children. »
His career at SNCF
“So I spent my career at SNCF. We didn't earn a lot of money as a barrier guard, barely 300 francs. There was nothing fun about my job. It consisted of monitoring the men who worked at the side of the track and warning them of the arrival of a train, so that they could take shelter. For this, I was given a trumpet, and when I saw the train coming from afar, I blew into it. Then, the SNCF modernized, they removed the barrier guard and I was transferred as a track protector during the work. »
On the kitchen
“When I was a barrier guard at the SNCF, I started cooking little by little, starting by doing simple things, and all the firefighters, the truckers who passed the barrier, smelled the good smell and stopped. I gave them cream puffs, saint-honorés… I cooked in my free time, I made pancakes, I prepared a foie gras, I fried it and we had a snack with that in the morning. »
On his television debut
“The fairy tale began with rugby in Rion. Every time there was a match, won or lost, I got into the habit of organizing the meal. And one day, in the middle of the party, a television team from FR3 arrives. They were preparing a program on rugby and they were missing a match to finish it. They had come registered in Rion. And, of course, they sat down at the table with everyone else. I served small birds and then roasts. At the end of the meal, I started singing with the players. It was then that Franck Bellot, the director, said to the president of the rugby club: “Who is this girl? » I didn't know it yet, but Franck Bellot had already confided to the president of the club that he was looking for a cook to host a family and regional cooking show. »
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