He was a precursor who inspired a whole generation of cooks, as chef at La Sapinière for 30 years, then as a teacher and mentor. Marcel Kretz died on January 31, at the age of 91, at the Sainte-Agathe Hospital Center, surrounded by his loved ones.
Born in Alsace in 1931, Marcel Kretz grew up in Strasbourg. Nourished by his mother’s vegetable garden, it was only natural for him to buy locally, on a small scale, when he arrived in Quebec in 1953, after obtaining his cooking diploma from the École hôtelière de Strasbourg.
“We talk a lot today about the importance of promoting regional products… As a child, I ate fresh, you could almost say organic, every day. We ate crops from the garden. There was no transport or refrigeration. I arrived in Quebec with the idea that eating local was the norm! “, he confided to The Press in 2012.
PHOTO ARCHIVES PRESS
Marcel Kretz cross-country skiing in the 1950s, in the Laurentians.
In the early 1960s, he moved to Val-David with his wife, never to leave his adopted region again. For nearly 30 years, he made the reputation of the La Sapinière table, which was the first Relais et Châteaux in Canada. He influenced a whole generation of chefs, notably by promoting regional products at a time when this was far from the norm.
PHOTO ROBERT MAILLOUX, PRESS ARCHIVES
In 2002, chef Claude Pelletier organized a tribute evening to Marcel Kretz at his restaurant Le Cube.
“He really did his own cooking, fairly simple cooking, but with high quality products,” recalls chef Claude Pelletier (Club Chasse et Pêche, Le Filet, Le Serpent), who worked at La Sapinière in 1985. -1986 and has always remained close to the chef, whom he considers his “mentor”. “He was passionate about the products; regional products were available in abundance at La Sapinière, but he was interested in products from all over the world. He was going to Mexico, and coming back with cactus! He was fascinated by cooking. »
Original idea by Lesley Chesterman, the documentary 100 years at the table brought together chefs who have left their mark on Quebec gastronomy around a large table. For the one who made a name for herself as a journalist and food critic, notably for Montreal Gazettethe presence of Marcel Kretz, a chef she had discovered in particular in her youth thanks to the short documentary The Art of Eating (1976, NFB), was unavoidable. “The documentary did not exist without him. We too often forget the people who were precursors. In my eyes, he was as important as Normand Laprise or Anne Desjardins. »
“We are losing a great man, he was a very generous, passionate person until the end. He is a leader who has done a lot for Quebec, but who unfortunately many have forgotten today,” echoes Normand Laprise.
By working tirelessly to unearth and promote regional and local products, he helped build Quebec’s gastronomic identity, adds Ms.me Chesterman: “For him, the product was key. We talk a lot about chefs who run after the products… He was really like that! He loved mycology, going in search of mushrooms or wild herbs in the forest. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE KRETZ FAMILY
Marcel Kretz, at the Culinary Olympiads, in Frankfurt, in 1980
An exceptional mentor
The first Canadian chef to become a member of the Order of Canada, in 1988, he also received the Ordre du Québec in 2018. Over the course of his career, he has participated in a number of culinary competitions and has won several medals. Moreover, the trophy awarded to the best apprentice cook of the year by the Society of Chefs, Cooks and Pastry Chefs of Quebec (SCCPQ) bears his name.
Although he officially retired in 1990, he never really stopped working and passing on his passion, teaching at the École hôtelière des Laurentides, sitting on various committees and culinary competition juries and acting in as a mentor for a whole generation of young cooks.
PHOTO PIERRE MC CANN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Marcel Kretz, in 2000, when he was coach of the Canadian team in a culinary competition.
Fred Morin was one. For the chef and co-founder of the Joe Beef Group, Marcel Kretz, whom he met while studying at the École hôtelière des Laurentides, was a true role model. “He was a great chef, nothing more than that! He was very open to youth, to novelty. At the end of my studies, he told me: ‟Do things well and you will go far.” As he was parsimonious in his encouragements, this proof of confidence had given me a certainty, an impetus. Knowing Marcel was one of the good points in my life,” says the man who is following in his mentor’s footsteps today by giving cooking lessons to young athletes.
Active until the end, Marcel Kretz, who was keen on cross-country skiing, still wrote, at 91, a column in the local newspaper of Val-David, Skiing. He is survived by his wife Nicole Rochon, his three children, including Simon Kretz, publishing director at The Pressas well as five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren…and an entire industry.