Good Taste: A Life of Food and Passion

A memoir and manifesto from the world’s most Michelin starred chef, Alain Ducasse, with introductions by internationally renowned writer Jay McInerney and chef Clare Smyth. At twelve years old, Alain Ducasse had never been to a restaurant. Less than fifteen years later, he received his first Michelin star. Today he is one of just two chefs to have been awarded twenty-one stars. Now, for the very first time, Ducasse shares a lifetime of culinary inspirations and passions in a book that is part memoir and part manifesto. Good Taste takes us on a journey from his childhood, where he picked mushrooms with his grandfather on a farm in Les Landes, to setting up groundbreaking schools and restaurants across the world. He is now taking off his chef’s whites and passing on what he knows to the next generation. Ducasse writes a poignant ode to the humble vegetables that have inspired his entire cuisine and to the masters that guided him along the way, from Paris to New York to Tokyo. As he looks to the future, he reflects on just what ‘good taste’ means.

About the Author

Alain Ducasse is one of the world's mostcelebrated chefs. Born in1956 on a farm in Les Landes, France, he went on to train with great chefs includingMichel Guérard, Gaston Lenôtre, Alain Chapel and Roger Vergé. He received his first three Michelin stars in 1990 at the Louis XV restaurant in Monaco. Since then, he has set up schools, created artisan factories and opened restaurants across theworld, most notably in Japan, the United States and London. He is based in Monaco.Jay McInerney is an American novelist, screenwriter and wine critic. His novels include Bright Lights, Big City, Ransom, Story of My Life, Brightness Falls and The Last of the Savages.Clare Smyth MBE is the first and only British female chef to hold three Michelin stars. Born on a farm in County Antrim, she moved to England at the age of sixteen, building a career that included working at Alain Ducasse's the Louis XV in Monaco and with Gordon Ramsay for thirteen years. Her first restaurant, Core, opened in London in August 2017. Polly Mackintosh is an editor and translator from the French. She lives in London.