Francois-Régis Gaudry, the recipe for happiness

Alexandra Gaudry. We met around twenty years ago at Allociné, where we both worked. At the time, it didn't work out working together. [Rires.]

François-Régis Gaudry. That didn't stop us from getting married on July 7, 2007, at 5:7 p.m., in Trouville, in Calvados (14), or 2 times 7. And it rather brought us luck! All joking aside, food has always played an extremely important role in our relationship. Even before I made it my job, we always tried lots of restaurants together. Alex brought me his Caribbean culture. His mother, who has Guadeloupean origins and who I talk about in my book, taught me the art of ti-punch or dombrés, small balls of flour that look like bread served with a lentil stew. Alexandra has an extremely hedonistic approach, she has never been on a diet and loves to eat.

How do you stay so thin when you're a food critic?

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F.-R.G. My body is my main work tool. I try several restaurants every week. To give you an idea, I tasted 178 recipes for the 'We will taste' best chocolate cake competition. In addition to cookies, marshmallow bears and logs! Enough to become diabetic! It requires a very healthy lifestyle. I don't go out much, I do two yoga sessions a week, I prepare for the Paris marathon with a coach. I sometimes skip meals. I never drink while filming 'Top Chef' because I know it makes you tired. But the reality is that I love wine! As Curnonsky, the great gastronomic critic of the 20th century, said: 'I practice excess in moderation.'

Do you have a rather intellectual background: hypokhâgne in Lyon, letters to Jussieu, Sciences po Paris? How did you get into gastronomy?

F.-R.G. It happened in my life gradually and a little by chance. At Sciences Po, I organized political conferences 'Les tribunes de la rue Saint-Guillaume'. In 2003, Alexandre Cammas, the founder of Fooding, spotted the little guide 'Paris Cool', published by Parigramme, which I had written alongside my studies, and asked me to work with him. I was doing goat jumps! The real turning point was to succeed the gastronomic critic Jean-Luc Petitrenaud after his departure from 'L'Express'. Then projects came to me a lot, without me necessarily looking for them. First to replace François Simon in 'Très very good'. Same scenario for 'We're going to taste'. A year after the death of Jean-Pierre Coffe and the end of 'It's not eating, it's eating', the management of France Inter offered me the job.

We no longer talk about work at the table since we work together!

Alexandra Gaudry

How do you manage your culinary association? Do you talk about work in the evening in the kitchen when you get home from work?

A.G. Not since we worked together! Our daughters were fed up. Before, I worked in the entertainment sector (cinema, series, gaming) for large communications companies. When I left my job, in 2022, I started with François-Régis. We wanted to work together and it was good timing because the projects were flooding in! Including an exhibition at the Conciergerie de Paris in 2023.

F.-R.G. Without Alexandra, I would never have agreed to curate this exhibition. I was in the middle of filming 'Top Chef' and I couldn't see myself taking up the challenge! She pushed me and took charge of its direction and production. Thanks to her background, she is always one step ahead and has a very precise, very international vision. She influenced me a lot on the subject of social networks.

Do you have new projects in 2025?

F.-R.G. A gourmet cabaret at the Rond-Point theater. Their team loved our show staged by Simon Delétang at the Lorient theater, which combined readings, discussions, performances and music, with my whole gang.

A.G. A show allows you to approach gastronomy with culture, history, sociology and fun! It's a bit of the trademark of all our projects.

I'm quite gregarious at work, clannish, Mediterranean. There is my sister, my cousin, the faithful with whom I have worked for fifteen years. A gang spirit!

François-Régis Gaudry

On the radio on France Inter, on TV in 'Très Très Bon', you are always in the band! Is this your second family?

A.G. François-Régis detected a lot of talent that remained in his galaxy. This is its great strength. Mina Soundiram, who started as an intern at 'L'Express', was the first columnist for 'Très very bon' and is still part of the show.

F.-R.G. I'm quite gregarious at work. I have a somewhat clannish, Mediterranean side. In my work circle, in addition to my family with my sister Marielle and my cousin Stéphane Solier, there are the faithful with whom I have worked for more than fifteen years: Sever in Delpon, the producer of 'Très very good', Charles Patin O'Coohoon, my editorial right-hand man since always. A real band spirit! Afterwards, that doesn't mean that I'm going on vacation with everyone.

Isn't a gang also a way of 'hiding' and preserving oneself?

F.-R.G. Yes. I realized this when I released this book 'Recipes & stories' published by Marabout. With the 'We will taste' book collections, it's like being on stage with your music group. There, all of a sudden, you're making your little acoustic solo album.

'Recipes & Stories' is a form of culinary autobiography. Through recipes, products, photos from your childhood, you tell your story for the first time. You even talk about a 'cooking out'!

F.-R.G. It must be my 50th birthday. I wanted to engrave in stone recipes that accompanied my childhood in Corsica, my family life, our vacations… The idea was also to trace my culinary genealogy with the recipes of my mother and my grandmother. mother, which I have always kept top secret. A 'good woman's' cuisine, healthy and anti-waste even before the term existed. Basically, our mothers and grandmothers cooked like they breathed. There were very few utensils and a great efficiency-emotion ratio!

A mother, an aunt, a grandmother, good friends omnipresent in his book… Is François-Régis a ladies' man?

A.G. Yes, definitely! Looking back, you have always been close to women!

F.-R.G. [Rires.] Be careful, I don't want anyone to misinterpret this answer. But, yes… I love working with women. I am very close to my sister who directs my videos, to Elvira Masson, with whom I have worked for many years. I have always lived surrounded by women. I have two daughters… And then there is my grandmother. The photo of the chefs' official muse. But I had an exceptional relationship with mine! I was going to spend a vacation in Corsica alone with her. She was my confidante, I spent hours with her in the kitchen.

Since confinement, you have revealed yourself. We discover you in your privacy, at home in Normandy cooking. Was it a trigger?

F.-R.G. I had qualms about cooking in public. And I valued my status as a critic who judges great chefs, sometimes with harsh teeth. At the time of confinement, Laurence Bloch, at the time director of France Inter, called me and forced my hand a little. 'I know you cook: show us! Make simple recipes, people will like it!' My sister, who was confined with us in Normandy, took her phone to film.

A. G. That's how it happened. Without thinking too much. There was Suzy's famous chocolate cake recipe which reached 8 million views on Instagram. We got into the game.

Who cooks at home?

A.G. Francis! Except when he's not there. When you have someone who cooks this well! Our favorite dishes: carbo, caramel pork and saltimbocca.

F.-R.G. I go shopping on Saturday morning, I have my businesses. The pleasure in cooking begins upstream, when buying products, choosing based on what you see and what you smell.

What does a Sunday look like at the Gaudrys' house?

A.G. On Sunday noon, François-Régis is on the air. We have a ritual. I come to pick him up after the show at 1 p.m., with our dog, to take a long two-hour walk in the Bois de Boulogne. We talk about everything that happens to us but especially about work. The girls aren't there. This is a good time to debrief and reflect on our plans.

F.-R.G. On the other hand, Sunday evening is sacred. The four of us have dinner. The tradition is to test my recipes. Our girls have a super sharp palate, they are without filter. I caught the older girl saying to her friends: 'My father, to make a perfect carbonara, I'll spend fifteen minutes in the kitchen beforehand to put some pressure on him.'

Are you talking about food at the table?

F.-R.G. Like all French people! The one who talks about it the most today is our eldest, Gabrielle, who is studying architecture. She keeps an Excel table of restaurants to try. In search of the best Burgundy, the best lemon tart!