Originally from Paris, the great chef Thierry Marx now lives on a barge and likes to recharge his batteries in the South-West and in the Bigouden country. He tells us about his childhood in Ménilmontant and his first radio in Berry. Place(s) in the France of Thierry Marx!
He is one of the most renowned French chefs. Thierry Marx has built a fine career in the kitchen, whether it concerns luxury or popular traditions. For France Bleu, he tells us about his origins in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, his love for the flavor of bread, his reconciliation with the people of Nice and his first radio station with France Bleu.
Almost the campaign in Paris
Thierry Marx grew up in the heights of the Ménilmontant district in the 60s. At that time, everything breathed a popular Paris in his memories.
There was a whole universe of craftsmen, plumbers, bakers, people who worked metals, workshops, this popular Paris, a Paris a bit like Doisneau
The family apartment is too small, so the City of Paris offers them to move into low-rent housing, the famous HLM, in Champigny-sur-Marne. A bad memory for Thierry Marx who only dreams of one thing: “leave this neighborhood .”
A new life on the water
Always Parisian, the great chef lives today on a barge, on the Seine. A choice which obliges him to accept concessions happily.
I love life on this boat because it puts me a little on the sidelines. She forces me not to have too many objects, not to have a crazy wardrobe
The rest of the warrior
When he walks away from the kitchen, it’s for the better sometimes rest in the South-West, at the Col d’Iraty. There, this martial arts enthusiast devotes himself to walking, to treks to better discover “this nature which is magnificent in this place“. Not to a contradiction, Thierry Marx also admits to being in love with the region of Pont-l’Abbé.
I see these tides coming to hit this chin of France. And there too, I have a universe which is probably extremely fantasized, but which gives me an attractiveness as rich as that which I can have for the Col d’Iraty or the Lot region.
Bread and corned beef
When asked what flavor transports him, the specialist in molecular gastronomy answers without hesitation:The bread !” A taste no doubt inherited from his childhood in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, near a “exceptional bakery”.
The humility that I learned in tasting bread, it is there, it is to say: “Here, we can give added value to simple products, and that makes a great dish.”
This simplicity reminds him of a dish that his mother prepared during the moments “a bit difficult” and that they shared as a family.
A simple pasta with a few diced canned corned beef and a tomato sauce that was a little preposterous like that
We don’t mess with traditions
Thierry Marx had the idea one day of “reinvent the pan bagnat“. Serious error which he realized after the fact, following the dissatisfaction of certain people from Nice who “attached a strong value to the culinary heritage of their region, and they are right“.
I said : “Excuse me, I’ll change things.“And I called it garnished pana garnished bread respecting not to mention the pan bagnat
Kitchen or rockabilly?
His first radio, Thierry Marx remembers it very well… it was with France Bleu! At that time, the young chef accepted all interviews for “score a little [son] territory in the media”. And one day, France Bleu calls him for a show in Châteauroux.
I did the 200 kilometers that separated me from Châteauroux and my restaurant, and I went to do a radio show. And the magic and happiness of the thing is that I had to do a cooking show and before that, I found myself on a rockabilly show. And it was completely ubiquitous!
More informations
Thierry Marx’s website