Remember cuisine minceur?

"Life is too short for cuisine minceur and for diets. Dietetic meals are like an opera without the orchestra."

Paul Bocuse

My lucky dip book (like I said I feel uninspired on my fasting days), is a classic from the 70s. I seem to have had it as a Christmas present in 1977. I doubt whether David would have chosen it - I probably suggested it. I must have been feeling fat, though looking at photos of myself at the time I'm not sure why. Maybe I just thought I wasn't eating healthily. Maybe the publicity was so great that I couldn't resist. And I confess that like Paul Bocuse, who obviously never cooked anything from it, I doubt that I did either. But my reasons were probably more that the recipes are really 'haute cuisine' and therefore a little fussy with expensive ingredients. And indeed the recipe I opened the book at - Blanquette de veau à la vapour is a good example - and I will come back to that. But it's a bit serendipitous is it not to choose as a lucky dip a book on dieting, when it's my diet day! There are a couple of interesting things I learnt though.

First of all Michel Guérard is apparently still going strong in his restaurant/hotel/spa and now vineyard, in the south west of France - Les Près d'Eugénie it's called and is in the little town of Eugénie-les-Bains.

Eugénie is, of course, the wife of Napoleon III - and therefore an empress. The restaurant has three Michelin stars and has had them since 1977 - how's that for consistency? Guérard himself must be well into his eighties by now but seems undaunted. The house was owned by his father-in-law, but was not in good condition. However, Guérard and his wife Christine renovated it and developed Cuisine Minceur, and now the town and the hotel complex attract tourists from all over the world. There is a hotel, spa, villas, cooking lessons, three restaurants, etc. etc. A complete little empire. The drawing at right is by Guérard himself. It's not fair, is it, that talented people in one field seem to be talented in so many others, whilst others get nothing at all in the way of talent. Another example of the unfairness of life. Sure - it's not a masterpiece, but it's a whole lot better than anything most people can do and it even has a sort of personal style. An exuberance even.

The story goes that his wife to be suggested that he could lose a few kilos which he had gained from his career as a gourmand/chef. At first he tried just eating less and more plainly - "So I began my long trudge through acres of grated carrot and other equally agreeable delicacies, destined to push me eventually to the very edge of despair. The ritual 'plainly-grilled steak and boiled haricots verts' left me gasping. Already I was unable to feel the vibrations that made my senses, eye, nose, palate, and touch sing when a really successful dish appeared. I felt isolated, cut-off, surrounded by a closing wall of frustration." I know how he feels - and I guess half the world does too, which is why Cuisine Minceur - his lighter version of 'haute cuisine' was so successful and so popular. His stated aim in writing the book was to "produce a complete festival of light meals for slimming, with salads as fresh as children's laughter, gleaming fish, the heavy scent of forbidden peaches, and roast chickens as deliciously perfumed as those of my childhood picnics."

In an interesting precursor to the 5/2 diet he suggests that a few times a year one should dedicate oneself to Cuisine Minceur for a week. No alcohol is to be consumed and one should stick strictly to the regime. He provides some sample menus to help.

To drink he suggests the amazingly esoteric Eugénie Tisane. A tisane is a kind of herbal tea. The ingredients for this tea are: heather flowers, maize silk, horsetail, uva ursi (bearberry leaf) and cherry stalks!!! He maintains you can get these from herbalists - who are they? (Well actually, in France you do find such establishments. The French are much more into naturopathy than we are.) I'm not sure even a health food shop would have them here, but maybe they would. I mean - maize silk! And I have no idea what bearberry leaf is. What is horsetail? Surely he doesn't literally mean the tail of a horse? It must be a flower of some kind. I bet you can buy it at his hotel. And yes you can - that little package will set you back €14. You add sugar substitute and lemon juice to serve with a bit of mint.

But I shouldn't mock. All power to someone who has built a business empire out of his skill as a chef and his desire to be healthy. And with three Michelin stars he must be doing something right. He seems a happy guy - well you would be wouldn't you? Maybe we should visit. We are going that way next year.