Welcome From Our Founder, Dorothy Cann Hamilton
When I reflect back to the seminal days of The French Culinary Institute, I know that my concept of French food was quite different than it is today. My introduction to the cuisine did not come from my family (who are Slovak, Irish, English and Scot…what kind of cuisine would you call that?), nor from being taken at an early age to the hallowed restaurants in New York City. No, for me it was taking frequent trips to France as a college student. I was studying at a British University for four years and every chance I got, for gastronomic reasons, I fled across the channel.
My travels were by ferry since I was on a student budget. My clothes reflected that, as did the $3 a night hotels in which I stayed. But the dinners I could buy for $2 and the sandwich jambon for lunch were heaven! Later as my life progressed geographically and I moved to Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer, I had found another cuisine that beguiled me. But I still yearned for those lovely Gallic meals that included a delicious cheese after the main course. In Bangkok those French meals were to be found only at expensive restaurants. However, being crafty, I with a few like minded friends, took an overnight (cheap) train, then a ferry across the Mekong River and stole into Vientiane, Laos. Laos had been a French colony, and cafes abounded. However, this was during the Vietnam war, and Vientiane was in the war zone. That did not deter us. That’s how serious we were about eating a good French dinner, which we found at the Café de la Paix for $1. It was delicious, as was the Algerian wine.
Years later when I started The French Culinary Institute, I knew that a French meal could be had not only in France. But what made it French? As Jacques Pépin asks, “Does it have to be cooked by a Frenchman or woman? Do you need French ingredients? Is it a certain recipe?” Quite frankly, I know today after 21 years of observation at the school, and many more years of eating French cuisine all over the world…it is technique. It is a way to think about cooking and putting together combinations of flavor. It is a body of knowledge based on respect for products, cooking equipment, discipline and finesse. And all this is usually accompanied by a genuine enthusiasm, if not love, of the actual preparations and delight in the consumption of the meal.
The Chefs of The FCI have long shared this knowledge and we see it manifested in our graduates’ restaurants... Mesa Grill, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Legal Sea Foods, the Calhoun school, God’s Love We Deliver and thousands of other great places.
We have intertwined our American products and sensibilities with the sophistication of French technique—but what style would you call these new restaurants? Are they just American? Are they American with French technique? Does it matter what we call them? What about just ‘great’ restaurants? I would love to know you think. Please share it with me at
TheFCIReview@frenchculinary.com. And in our next newsletter—I will report back to you!
In closing, I would like to offer sympathy and prayers to our students, alumnae and their families from the Gulf Coast region. We have been in contact with a few of you, and have tried to help as best we can. Please let us know how you are getting along and if we can be of assistance. Remember we have a wonderful placement department at the school, to help you in finding jobs elsewhere in the country until your hometowns can get back on their feet.
