François Chartier Bio

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François Chartier - Profile

François CHARTIER

Author of Taste buds and Molecules – The Art and Science of Food and Wine

NEW: Everything about Taste buds and Molecules & François Chartier: Press document/media-kit, april 2012

François Chartier is an internationally acclaimed sommelier, best-selling author, flavour detective, and instigator of the new aromatic discipline “molecular food harmonies and sommellerie”.

In June 2009, François released the first results of his scientific research on “molecular food harmonies and sommellerie” in the ground-breaking book Papilles et Molécules – La science aromatique des aliments et des vins. An instant hit in Canada, it quickly rose to the top of the best-sellers list of the year. In February 2010, the book was awarded the prestigious accolade “WORLD’S BEST INNOVATIVE FOOD BOOK” at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris.

In August 2010, the book was published in English Canada as Taste Buds and Molecules – The Art and Science of Food and Wine (McClelland & Stewart). The publishing rights have also been sold in Hungary and in Russia, where the book was published in 2011. Just recently, the illustrious Manhattan publishing house Wiley acquired the rights to publish Taste Buds and Molecules in the United States in 2012.

For two years now, volume I of Papilles et Molécules has been at the top of the best-sellers list on Amazon.ca, where the young Taste Buds and Molecules has also been residing since being published. The latter was voted #3, just behind the Blumenthal and Noma books, on the prestigious 2010 Star Chefs.Com Best Food Book TOP 10.

Furthermore, in December 2010, the Canadian national newspaper The Globe & Mail named François Chartier as one of the 45 Canadians who have most influenced world change in 2010. This distinguished accolade recognizes François’s research work, scientific contribution and important role in the elaboration and application of the theory of aromas in cooking.

In October 2010, François Chartier also announced his collaboration with LaSalle College for the next five years. This Montreal private educational institution has developed a new cooking and sommellerie program with a curriculum based essentially on Taste buds and Molecules and François’s work and research.

Now well-known on the international scene, François will be giving a number of upcoming conferences on the aromatic science of food and wine in Montreal, Toronto, New York (StarChefs.com), and in Spain and Germany.

His innovative work, involving culinary creation and food and wine harmonies, has awakened much interest in the gastronomical universe, making him a highly sought-after consultant to some of the greatest chefs in the world. Since 2008, François has been working with Chef Ferran Adrià and his team from the mythical Catalan restaurant elBulli, in Roses, Spain – voted World’s Best Restaurant five times over. Their collaboration resulted in over 30 dishes that were included the 2009/2010 menus.

The film elBulli: Cooking in Progress premiered in Amsterdam in November 2010, in Toronto in April 2011, and will be opening in Montreal very shortly. The film chronicles the moments, in the laboratory and in the kitchen, when the creativity of Ferran Adrià and his team comes to life, with the participation of François Chartier.

A documentary film entitled “The fabulous story of Taste Buds and Molecules”, directed by Patrice Sauvé, is currently being filmed and will air world-wide in 2012, on the prestigious Documentary Channel. A weekly television show based on the aromatic endeavors of Taste buds and Molecules, is currently in the works.

François is also pursuing a creative streak with his co-worker, Chef Stéphane Modat. The two conspirators combine their knowledge to explore the unpaved paths of molecular food harmonies and sommelerie, creating new recipes inspired by Chartier’s scientific aromatic findings.

In the summer of 2010, with Chef Stéphane Modat’s complicity, they published the book Les Recettes de Papilles et Molécules – Cuisine aromatique et creative du duo Mc2, enabling anyone, from the budding cook to the epicurean, to bring the revolution to both plates and glasses. Unexpectedly mixing ingredients that have complementary aromatic signatures, the book’s 85 recipes surprise and delight a great deal of readers. Following in Papilles et Molécules’s footsteps, Les Recettes de Papilles et Molécules has made its nest in the Top 10 best sellers in Québec libraries. A new series of 4 cookbooks, on mainstream cooking, but modernized through the aromatic paths discovered by Chartier’s innovative and accessible work, is currently in the works.

Since 2002, François has been writing columns on food and wine in the Gourmet News section of LA PRESSE, the most important and prolific French language newspaper in Canada, and number one on the web www.cyberpresse.ca.

Since 1996, he has been publishing an annual best-seller wine and food harmony buying guide entitled La Sélection Chartier. In 2005, he published À Table avec François Chartier (Éditions La Presse), which was awarded the “World’s Best French Book on Food and Wine Harmony”, at the Gourmand World CookBook Awards in Madrid (2005). Due to popular demand, the book was republished in the fall of 2009.

His talks on food and wine on the cooking show Curieux Bégin, broadcasted by Télé-Québec, are also available online http://curieuxbegin.telequebec.tv/ (French only)

François resides in Sainte-Adèle, Québec, where he continues his full-time research on “molecular food harmonies and sommellerie”, as well as his career as an author and specialized communicator, giving talks on television and radio, and workshops and conferences around the world.

Honours for François Chartier
- Best sommelier in the world in French wines and spirits, Grand Prix Sopexa International, Paris (1994)
- Bronze Medal, World’s Best Sommelier, Tokyo (1995)
- Ordre national du Québec, highest decoration awarded by the Québec government, Québec (2008)

Honours for Papilles et Molécules
- Best Innovative CookBook in the World, All languages considered, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Paris (2010)

Honours for Taste Buds and Molecules
- Finalist, International Association of Culinary Professionals 2011 Cookbook Award, “Wine, Beer or Spirits” category (winners will be
revealed on June 2nd, 2011)
- Best Wine and Food Book in Canada, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Paris (2011)

Honour for the Sélection Chartier
- LAURÉAT OR CUISINE CANADA for Best Wine Book in Canada (2005)

Honour for À Table avec François Chartier
- Gourmand World’s Best French Book on Food and Wine Harmony, World CookBook Awards, Madrid (2005)

Website: www.francoischartier.ca

Website (under construction): www.tastebudsandmolecules.com and www.papillesetmolecules.com

Twitter: @papillesetM (French and English)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/Papillesetmolecules
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