Alain Ducasse, the film

There was a time when a chef without their own cookbook was only half a chef. Now every serious chef must have at least their own Netflix series or — premier league — a feature film.

And so Alain Ducasse, like David Chang, René Redzepi and others before him, travels from Tokyo to Hong Kong, from Paris to Manila, and from Kyoto via Rio to London, to share his view on food in La Quête d’Alain Ducasse (The Quest of Alain Ducasse).

Legendary

But when the perfectionist Ducasse makes a film, it is for the big screen, not a smartphone screen. And the hour-and-a-half documentary gets its premiere at a genuine film festival. The 2018 Berlin Film Festival. After the screening there, Variety wrote: ‘This is the documentary equivalent of an exquisite meal at one of Ducasse’s legendary restaurants.’

The 2017 film follows the movements of the 61-year-old globetrotting chef during the eighteen months leading up to the opening of his newest restaurant, Ore, in the Palace of Versailles, Paris. A crowning achievement in his already highly celebrated culinary career, which spans 24 restaurants worldwide with a combined total of 18 Michelin stars.

What is Alain Ducasse looking for?

We discover that the chef, who cooks exclusively with local, seasonal produce, visits all his restaurants around the world every three months to taste the food and motivate his staff. And that the vegetable enthusiast visits every market, production farm and plantation to personally test the products used in his establishments and meet the people behind them.

Root vegetables

Furthermore, the soft-spoken chef, who rarely cooks these days, is the quiet force behind the wedding of Prince Albert II of Monaco and state dinners for then-president François Hollande. A spicy detail: Ducasse suggested that the president’s dinner for the Paris Climate Conference consist entirely of seeds, sustainably caught fish and root vegetables, for less than €20 per person. Hollande liked the idea, but the Élysée wanted (expensive) meat.

What drives the professional, modest and sociable chef who started a culinary training programme in Manila to help disadvantaged children and also took part in Massimo Bottura’s Refettorio restaurant in Milan? The documentary promises to answer that question. Coming soon to cinemas and video on demand.

Watch the trailer for La Quête d’Alain Ducasse/The Quest of Alain Ducasse here:

Image: Still from the film La Quête d’Alain Ducasse.