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Chef Jean-Marc Villard brings to his renown teaching a love of cooking inherited from his family.
“My passion for French Culinary Arts comes from my mother and my grand mother in my native Normandie. As a young man, I received a traditional French culinary training and earbed a diploma in culinary arts at the Culinary School in Nice.”
Jean-Marc served in some of the finest French restaurants in France and abroad including:”L’Oasis***” à la Napoule (near Nice), “Le Gourmandin”, “L’Alexandrin*” in Lyon. He also brought French culinary excellence to the US working in a French restaurant in Saint Louis, Missouri.
His teaching experience and his passion for sharing this love of French gastronomy brought him to be an integral part of the faculty of the prestigious Paul Bocuse Institute in Lyon as Chef Instructor in 1991.
“For 10 years, I taught international students from all over the world with instruction in English. I worked in the showcase kitchen of the gastronomic restaurant where students received hands on training.”
“Since 2001, I have owned and managed my own culinary school with my wife Alice. I have developed programs for amateurs coming from abroad, I teach French Cuisine in English. Programs include gastronomic tourism and professional development. “L’Atelier de Cuisine Gastronomique” was the first hands on cooking school for amateurs in Lyon, Capital of Gastronomy.”
Jean-Marc did not content himself with welcoming international students to France; he brought his culinary skills into the field training restaurant teams and also amateurs in different countries. “My international experience includes : Singapour, Rome, Djakarta, Bogota, San Paulo, Tunis, Casablanca, Kuala Lumpur.”
Jean-Marc’s philosophy :
“French cuisine has changed with the times and as it moved me to adapt and expand my personal style.
My approach remains traditional but my approach to cooking has evolved into a lighter cuisine, healthier, more authentic, using local and organic products. Preserving health through food is central to what I am trying to achieve today while maintaining the pleasure of good cooking and eating.
Concerned about the ecosystem in which we live, I prefer fresh seasonal products following the rhythms of nature and short circuits of production.
As our project expands, we look forward to creating an organic garden with vegetables and aromatic herbs that will grace our culinary creations. Join us as we harvest and prepare the meal we share in a friendly environment around the table enjoying regional, organic wine.
Visit us at our school of cuisine and share with my wife and me “ce repas à la française *.”
Remember the best meal ever is the meal shared with friends.
* “The Gastronomic meal of the French” has been recognized by UNESCO since 2010 as part of the World Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
