Leading French chef Alain Senderens, one of the founders of the Nouvelle Cuisine movement, has died aged 77, food critic Gilles Pudlowski told AFP on Monday. "He was one of the last great creators of Paris. This creator was a visionary," he said of Senderens, who along with Paul Bocuse, Michel Guerard and some others was a stalwart of France's Nouvelle Cuisine in the 1960s and 1970s. "We will never forget you dear Alain. We miss you already," Pudlowski wrote on his blog.
Nouvelle Cuisine is characterised by super-sleek aesthetics and lighter, more delicate dishes than traditional, sauce-heavy French fare. Senderens ranked as one of France's top chefs for decades, holding on to a prized Michelin three-star rating for 28 years. But he shocked the country's culinary establishment by renouncing his stars in 2005 in search of a simpler, less formal approach to dining.
"So I want to open a different restaurant, a great meal without all the fuss," he told AFP at the time, adding prices would be more affordable at around $150. Senderens delighted in upsetting the world of French gastronomy by pushing sweet-and-sour combinations such as lobster with vanilla, or by digging up ancient recipes such as roast Apicius duck, a dish dating back to Roman times. He once caused uproar by proclaiming that white wine should be served with cheese.
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