Fernand Point (, 25 February 1897 – 4 March 1955) was a French chef and restaurateur who is considered the father of modern French cuisine. He founded the restaurant La Pyramide in Vienne near

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Early life

Point was born in Louhans,

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

, France. His family kept an inn where he started cooking when he was ten. He moved to Paris and worked at some of its best restaurants before working with

Paul Bocuse Paul François Pierre Bocuse (; 11 February 1926 – 20 January 2018) was a French chef based in Lyon known for the quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. Dubbed "the pope of gastronomy", he was affectionately nick ...

's father at the in

Évian-les-Bains Évian-les-Bains (), or simply Évian (, , or ), is a Communes of France, commune in Eastern France, by the border with Switzerland. It is located in the northern part of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. A high-m ...

Career

He had received his training with Foyot in Paris, the Bristol Hotel, Paris, the Majestic in Cannes, and the Royal Hotel in Évian-les-Bains. In 1922, he and his family moved to Vienne, a city in southeast France near Lyon, and opened a restaurant. Two years later his father left the restaurant to Fernand, who renamed it La Pyramide. Point opened Restaurant de la Pyramide when he was 24, about south of

in the town of Vienne. The restaurant was awarded three Michelin stars.

Ma Gastronomie

His book ''Ma Gastronomie'' was first published in French in 1969. The book includes 200 recipes based on Point's notes. The chef Charlie Trotter described Point's ''Ma Gastronomie'' as the most important cookbook.An Interview with Chef Charlie Trotter
Jennifer Iannolo - 15 Dec 2003

Publications

* Point, Fernand (2008) ''Ma Gastronomie'', Rookery Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Point, Fernand 1897 births 1955 deaths People from Louhans French chefs French male chefs Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants French restaurateurs