7th January 2021

I was sad yesterday to hear of Albert Roux’s passing.  The Roux brothers were so influential and so many of our wonderful chefs trained under them, they literally changed the face of British gastronomy.  Le Gavroche was the first restaurant on the UK to win a Michelin star.  Then two. Then three. An absolutely outstanding achievement.

The thing however that I will always remember is his stance on foie gras.  At a point when many of our elite restaurants were using it daily, Albert Roux declared it to be inhumane and refused to use it. Everything about it is inhumane and I wish more chefs would refuse to use it,  The treatment of the geese and ducks just to get fois gras is absolutely barbaric.  I wish more restauranteurs would stop using it.

Of all the cookbooks I have, I realised yesterday that I don’t have one from the Roux brothers (only Michel jnr), and I really need to change that.

What a truly outstanding career.