Annie Féolde is known across the gourmet world for her rustic Italian fare, but her background is less traditional.
She fell into cooking in the early 70s, knocking together side dishes in her husband’s wine bar. Very quickly, Annie’s food took centre stage, and over 30 years later she is revered from Tuscany to Tohoku for her devotion to the Italian style.
Jon Wilks met with Annie ahead of her appearance at the inaugural Gourmet Abu Dhabi event for a chat about her upbringing, her philosophies, and how she took Tokyo.
You flew into Abu Dhabi this morning…
Yes, I wanted to have a look at the place before coming to work here, because it’s always a big pressure. It’s better if you understand a bit more deeply about what is expected of you, and where we are going to work. It’s a big responsibility.
Let’s talk a little bit about your background. You’re French originally…
Yes, yes! Still French!
…but known for Italian cooking.
Yes, my business is in Italy, and I don’t want to copy anything from France. The newspapers often say that I use French techniques with the Italian style. That’s OK, because who doesn’t use French techniques, you know? We also use Spanish techniques. You can never learn enough.
But a French woman cooking in an Italian style… isn’t that a kind of betrayal?
Not at all!
No?
Well, I was there in Italy and I started a wine bar – it was a wine bar to begin with – with my husband. No food. And that’s why I started. Without any intention, I started to cook there, just to accompany the wines.
Had you been a cook before that?
Having a family in the hotel business, I’d always appreciated nice cooking and that side of life. And it’s a great part of our life, isn’t it. My grandmother, for instance, was a wonderful cook. She could do anything, with very few ingredients. She was always so nice. And I took a great philosophy from her cooking: simplicity,good ingredients, and when you cook you have to feel each ingredient in the same dish, not allowing any one to dominate the other. Have respect for each ingredient. And I’ve always carried that with me. It’s more natural.
It’s a similar philosophy to macrobiotic cooking, as I understand it.
Yes, also the same.
Does that go some way to explaining your popularity in Japan?
We went to Japan because it was a bigger challenge than going to the States, where we had been invited several times. We thought that Japan was so far away that it would be harder, so we went there more willingly! And, in fact, in the beginning we had to struggle with the company that invited us there, because they didn’t understand what it was that we did. They just wanted us. Who knows why! Because of our fame, perhaps? But then they wanted to serve beer, and we said, ‘No beer! Only wine!’ And they got upset.
Well, they love their beer.
Yes, it’s their national beverage! But I love Japanese cooking.
Do you ever incorporate local ingredients into your cooking? I noticed you seem to have a tempura-based dish.
Well, there’s a slight difference between deep-fried dishes in the Italian style and tempura. To tell you the truth, tempura is much better! But deep-frying items in Italy has always been a tradition as well. So I always need to point out that difference, even if it is less nice. But I don’t want to call my deep-fried items tempura. I don’t see why I should use a Japanese name or a Japanese recipe; or Japanese, Thai or French influence. I don’t want this. It’s modern Italian.
That said, you’ll be cooking in Abu Dhabi soon. Aren’t you tempted to incorporate any of the local flavours?
No. Just Italian. I think it’s very important to keep our identity. If you come to me in Italy – even more so in Tokyo – if you come to an Italian restaurant, you want to eat Italian food. And nowadays there are so many mixtures that I enjoy for myself, but I don’t agree with them for my business.
You’re known internationally as a 3-starred Michelin chef, but how would you define yourself?
I actually feel absolutely Italian, and I protect and defend the Italian cuisine very much, because often it’s not well understood. Especially with French cooks, sometimes I have to argue with them because they think that their cooking is the only one, and this drives me crazy, because it is not right! And if I am here in Abu Dhabi, it is because I want to see what they do here in this region of our world, because it’s different. They have different products, ingredients, temperature… And so I’m very pleased to see what happens elsewhere. But I don’t want to copy, because copying is too easy, and such a low level. But, at the same time, it is true that traveling opens your eyes, and you never finish learning or studying.
Annie Féolde will be cooking up a treat at Mezzaluna, Emirates Palace, February 11th to 14th, with a special dinner on the 12th. Call 04-367-6520 for reservations.
