With its series “Chocolat-Thé-Epices,” the Institut d’Etudes Supérieures des Arts (IESA) in Paris is offering more than a dozen Monday evening presentations throughout fall 2011 and spring 2012 on these three topics. The first four events are devoted to chocolate and will feature audiovisual presentations, artifacts and, of course, chocolate tastings. Speakers will include professionals from [...]
Women have long been fond of chocolate, from Marie-Thérèse of Austria, Madame de Sévigné and Marie-Antoinette, to Jeanne Calment, the French woman who has the distinction of having the longest confirmed lifespan in human history. Madame Calment, who died in 1997 at 122 years of age, reportedly ate one kilogram of chocolate every week! Could [...]
France’s first Fête de la Gastronomie is taking place on Friday, September 23, 2011. The event is an opportunity to collectively celebrate France’s renowned gourmet food traditions, recently declared part of the world’s heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). The initiative also aims to encourage generosity and conviviality around food [...]
The 17th annual edition of Paris’s famous Salon du Chocolat takes place from October 20-24, 2011 at Porte de Versailles. This amazing chocolate extravaganza, the biggest chocolate festival in the world, brings together more than 400 top chocolatiers and chocolate experts, cocoa growers, pastry chefs, authors, and tens of thousands of chocolate lovers. The spotlight [...]
October 1st each year has been declared Journée Mondiale du Cacao et du Chocolat (World Cocoa and Chocolate Day) by the Académie Française du Chocolat et de la Confiserie. The idea for an annual celebration of both cocoa and chocolate follows the decision of the London-based International Cocoa Organization to establish World Cocoa Day, also [...]
From September 15 to October 2 the upscale rue Saint-Honoré (1st arr.) will become “Quartier du Chocolat” (chocolate quarter). Belgian chocolate producer Côte d’Or will be organising free workshops, tastings and other chocolate-themed events at three venues in the neighbourhood. The rock’n roll tea salon Horror Picture Tea (95, rue Saint-Honoré) will be transformed into [...]
The numerous health benefits of dark chocolate are nothing new, but the list is about to get longer. According to Canadian researchers, regular consumption of dark chocolate could help protect against sunburn. Naturally rich in polyphenols — anti-oxident molecules that promote blood flow close to the skin –, dark chocolate is thought to protect against [...]
Macaron lovers in New York will be happy to know that legendary Parisian pastry shop Ladurée has announced plans to open a store in that city as early as this summer, according to press reports. Founded in Paris in 1862 by Louis-Ernest Ladurée, the company is notably famous for inventing the double-sided macaron that has [...]
French online tea retailer Les Thés de Constance and organic cake and pastry specialists Marlette will be in Paris as a tea and cake “pop-up store” from May 21 to June 26. Les Thés de Constance specialises in exotic single-origin teas from around the world. Marlette, an Ile de Ré-based “bio gourmand” company, makes high-end [...]
With the arrival of spring, fresh fruit tarts are back. Figaroscope magazine has carried out testing and ranking of Paris’s strawberry tarts (tartes aux fraises) to determine which pastry shop makes the city’s best. Tarts gathered from notable pastry shops were scored on appearance, flavour and freshness of strawberries, overall taste, and price/quality. Top marks [...]
On Sunday, April 24, 2011 Centre des Monuments Nationaux will be holding chocolate Easter egg hunts (chasses aux oeufs de Pâques) at national monuments throughout France, including eight locations in Paris and the surrounding region. It’s a fun way for children and their families to visit historic sites while enjoying a favourite Easter tradition! In [...]
Nunu Chocolates, an artisanal chocolate company based in Brooklyn, New York, will be featured as a live chocolate-making exhibit at Brachfeld Gallery in Paris this month. From April 12 to 26, the company’s founders, husband-and-wife chocolatiers Andy Laird and Justine Pringle, along with fellow chocolatier Dave Gould, will be making truffles and caramels on location [...]
La Maison du Chocolat’s creative director Gilles Marchal will be giving a three-hour Easter chocolate workshop at Ecole Ritz Escoffier culinary school in Paris. Two sessions of this hands-on event, called Extrême Chocolat, will be offered: Sunday March 27 or Sunday April 10, from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. Participants will learn tips and tricks [...]
Encyclopédie du Chocolat, published by Flammarion (October 2010) under the direction of Frédéric Bau (Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona), won first prize for best cookbook in the chocolate category at the 16th Gourmand Cookbook Awards handed out on March 3 during the Festival du Livre Culinaire in Paris. The 400-page book features some 150 recipes [...]
Macaron lovers in Paris and elsewhere will want to mark their calendars: Sunday, March 20 is “Jour du Macaron” (Macaron Day) in France – an annual celebration of the delicate meringue-based confections that come in a rainbow of colours and fillings. Pierre Hermé, who launched this event in 2005, will be offering free macarons in [...]
