With family or friends, the visitors of this first day of opening to the public came in large numbers to discover the City of gastronomy and wine of Dijon. All the passes, whether they allow free access to the site or those at 21st which included tastings, had found takers before the doors opened this Saturday morning at 9:30 am.
Awaken the taste buds by sight and smell
Before any appetizer, the taste buds are awakened by sight and smell. First stop for visitors: a scent workshop near the Burgundy wine school. Its goal : learn to recognize the tastes and aromas found in wine. One table is dedicated to white, the second to red. On the first: vases from which emanate smells of vanilla, cheese or citrus; on the other, we breathe red fruits, leather and spices or even chocolate.
“Close your eyes while you breathe”
Charlotte Fromont is one of the mediators of the Burgundy wine school, she guides neophytes and connoisseurs. ” Close your eyes as you breathe. Try to see what comes to mind. This perfume is that of white wines that age.” Licorice? No, dried fruit? No more. Caramel? We are getting closer. But no good answer in the group of Alsatian and Dijon friends that Charlotte Froment was trying to put on the track for the mystery container.
– Claire Checcaglini
And if you dry on this black vase with slightly sweet scents, you can go directly to the 1st part of the City entitled “It’s not cake”. There, the smells to recognize are indicated, galette, gingerbread, nothing but desserts, since several rooms are dedicated to pastry.
– Claire Checcaglini
We learn that this specialty left the street in the Middle Ages to then invite itself to the tables of aristocrats. But it experienced a new boom thanks to the tea rooms that appeared in the 19th.
Yesterday’s stars: éclairs and Paris-Brest, today’s star: lemon and shortbread tart
A century that saw the birth of stars of pastry: chocolate éclair or Bourdaloue tart, displayed under bells above which visitors wonder whether they are replicas or not. By their side: stars of today: revisited lemon tart and pastry drinks. But the real stars of this exhibition are the visitors invited a few meters further on to give of themselves to perform a few classics virtually. The enthusiasm is there, the result less. Hippolyte, 12, tries a puff pastry with his mother Carole who concludes: “it’s still easier to buy it ready made! “
Public lesson and tasting right out of the kitchen
One floor higher, there too the visitor is involved: recognition of shapes and textures of fruits, wines. Despite twenty years of tasting with oenologists, France, retired, recognizes: “the pinot I identified it right away, but there, I don’t know. Yet it is fruity.” Perhaps the cooking courses at the Ferrandi school will improve France’s palate and nose. With her husband, they inquired about perfecting their skills in this prestigious institution. The Ferrandi school is indeed an integral part of the City of Gastronomy. This Saturday morning, the course takes place in public. On the menu: pistachio strawberry with tasting right out of the kitchen.
– Claire Checcaglini
Tasting also of wines and other verrines along the route, especially in the gastronomic village. And at the cheese stand, there’s no question of reluctantly smelling the product.
This experiential cuisine is part of a long history on which the brand new Cité lingers: that of the genesis of gastronomy. And with it: the birth of food critics in the 19th century.
– Claire Checcaglini
At that time, the gastronomic meal was gargantuan, as this excerpt recalled by the small automatic theater of the City. It refers to the Club des grands tomies which organized dinners in Paris throughout the night.
And it will only be 200 years later that the French gastronomic meal will be classified by Unesco as an intangible heritage of humanity.
– Claire Checcaglini