Introductory Post

It's nearly 10pm. I'm sick. I've just had a minor failure in the kitchen. Why on earth I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog (of all things) I do not know.

But for better or worse, here it is.

The title of this blog, Le métier qui touche, is a reference to a quote from my late maternal grandfather and chef, Raoul DESPREZ (photo forthcoming). The quote may very well have been around before him, but -- like "French" loanwords in Uyghur that really come from Russian -- here it's the proximal source that counts. It means literally 'The profession that touches'. Here, touche has the dual sense, as in English, of 'emotionally touching' and touching in the physical sense; he used it to describe the profession of gastronomy, referring to the fact that it can both be of great significance to the chef and diner, and physically scar the chef in the process. A better translation might be 'The profession that leaves a mark'.

Well, I don't know that the blog will will be mostly culinary in nature, and I can promise that whatever recipes or food pic I put up here will pale in comparison to anything my grandfather ever did. But it's nice to memorialise him however, and I'll try my best.