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CONTACT Atelier de Cuisine Gastronomique Tel: +33 4 78 35 06 07 Email: infos@cuisinedechef.com www.cuisinedechef.com

Lyon Tourism Board

Tel: +33 4 72 77 69 69

Email: info@lyon-france.com www.en.lyon-france.com

Paul Bocuse Institute

Tel: +33 4 72 18 02 20

Email: contact@institutpaulbocuse.com www.institutpaulbocuse.com

Gallic culinary history is riddled with salacious analogies that draw juicy parallels between food and sexual pleasure. Over the centuries, millions of carefully crafted culinary fusions have been ingested in pursuit of digestive ecstasy: a passionate pastime worshipped and adored for its gratifying sensory power. Gastronomic know-how is much like sexual prowess, according to Jim Kar, author of If Food is Love, Cooking is Foreplay. With these erotic analogies between bed and plate, it is little wonder so many Gallic menus read like an aphrodisiac banquet. It may also explain why the pans of France boil over in an orgy of culinary lust. Food and love are close cousins; our enjoyment of both depends on who else comes to the table. Craving, consummation and satiation: the comparisons are legion in a nation of chefs with insatiable appetites for pleasure. We stare and lick our lips, before yielding to the French passion of gastronomy. In Lyon, this is gourmet amour, where food fantasies are readily indulged.

As France’s gastronomic capital, Lyon owes much to the 19th-century Mères culinary tradition, originated by female cooks in times gone by but now largely practiced by men. Paul Bocuse, the world-renowned Lyon chef, started out with mère Brazier while other famous mères include la mère Blanc, la mère Fillioux, la mère Poupon and la mère Léa, la grande Marcelle. In this gastronomic heartland every meal and snack is a sensuous union of fresh produce, herbs and spices combined in mouth-watering matrimony: Bresse poultry with vegetables from the Ain plain; cheese from Dauphiné and Ardèche with Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône, Dugey and Burgundy wines; and Dombes pike and carp with fruit from les Monts du Lyonnais and the Rhone valley. Feast on local salami, rosette, quenelles and andouillette sausages together with locally made chocolates and cream.

Dozens of open-air markets and covered food halls across Lyon offer a chance to sample the goods, such as those in Part-Dieu, or the small Halles de la Martinière or des Brotteaux. Be prepared for stallholders to point out the aphrodisiacal qualities of everything in your basket, from that libido-boosting bunch of celery, the fertility-enhancing pomegranate, a vigour-rejuvenating peach, some testosterone-increasing grains and a bulb of arousal-boosting garlic, together with honeymoon favourites, oysters and caviar. Lyon’s tempting array of world-class eateries ranges from simple local bouchons (traditional bistros) to restaurants owned by renowned chefs, such as gastronomic maestro Paul Bocuse, who has wooed foodies across the planet with a culinary frisson of exotic influences. Tourists keen to indulge a passion for French food can take a daily class at Chef Jean-Marc Villard’s world famous cooking school where, in hands-on style, he promises to deliver the pinnacle of pleasure on a plate.

Villard’s classes take place in his professional teaching kitchen built in his gorgeous garden in Champagne au Mont d’Or, about 10 minutes from Lyon’s bustling centre. This gregarious gourmet is a seductive purveyor of culinary secrets and imparts tips and savoir faire with a wink of the eye and a knowing smile. He prefers small groups, and often attracts couples keen to expand their kitchen repertoire. The style is relaxed and informal with Villard open and adaptable to individual requirements. A finalist in the Best Professionals of France (2000), he boasts a long list of accomplishments at Michelin-starred restaurants and held the post of chef-professor for a decade at the Ecole des Arts Culinaires et de l’Hôtellerie, now the Paul Bocuse Institute. Choose from a cooking lesson only or add on an early morning gastronomic experience that allows a glimpse into Villard’s world of local suppliers, from meat and poultry merchants to fish, vegetable, fruit, wine and herb markets. In an atmosphere of conviviality, would-be chefs gather at Villard’s kitchen at 9am where they are togged out in aprons and primed for action. Aptly hot and sweaty (despite air-conditioning), Jean-Marc Villard whips up a gourmet frenzy with true Gallic passion and is rapturous about Lyon’s culinary tradition. Sessions culminate in a menu tasting that allows participants to devour dishes on a pretty, creeper-clad outdoor terrace, with a glass of wine to toast life, loves – and Lyon.

Mouthwatering dishes abound in France’s gastronomic capital.

Learn to cook up an enticing gastronomic storm with a MIchelin-starred chef.