Would you like to organise or host a LE SANS FOURCHETTE® meal?
Are you a chef, a restaurateur, or the head of a hospitality school or training restaurant, and does the idea of a gourmet meal without cutlery inspire you?
Organising a LE SANS FOURCHETTE® lunch or dinner means taking on a challenge that is at once culinary, human and educational, with the Mémoire & Santé association.
Chefs and restaurateurs
Hosting a LE SANS FOURCHETTE® meal means:
- Turning a full menu (starter, main course, dessert) into bites to be eaten with the fingers.
- Working with very practical constraints (size, structure, textures, temperatures, plating…) without giving up your style or the quality of your produce.
- Opening your doors to guests who rarely go to restaurants: people made vulnerable by age, disability or illness, carers, associations.
The association, present on the day, supports you at every stage:
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Menu design
Textures, size of the bites, grip, nutritional balance, order of the dishes.
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Plating and service
Presentation of the bites, pace of service, movement around the dining room, guests’ comfort.
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Awareness training (kitchen and front of house)
On welcoming vulnerable people: neurocognitive disorders, invisible disability and their effects in a restaurant.
In return, you offer your guests a precious moment of hospitality and return to the original meaning of the word restaurant: to restore, to revive, to give back strength.
Several Michelin-starred chefs have already worked on the concept and found it so interesting and rewarding that they have come back for more!
“It’s a real challenge for us. We had to prepare a lot in advance and do quite a few trials. We had to take the patients into account, and avoid making bites that run or are too hot. And they had to be easy to pick up with three fingers, in a pinch grip. But without losing the sense of taste. Because taste is closely linked to memory.”
Hospitality schools
LE SANS FOURCHETTE® is a wonderful learning ground for students, in the kitchen and front of house alike. They discover:
- The principles of tomorrow’s hospitality: ethical and inclusive.
- Constraint as a driver of culinary creativity.
- The importance of service, attentiveness and the way we look at the most vulnerable customers.
- The need to take an ageing population and neurodegenerative diseases into account in their future careers.
A project spanning the whole school year, in 4 phases
The partnership is part of an interdisciplinary educational project, formalised by an agreement.
Presentation of the value of the concept to the teaching team.
Introduction of the teachers (kitchen and front of house) and their students to neurocognitive diseases, to the constraints of gourmet bites and to what is at stake in serving the people affected.
Delivering the meal in the training restaurant, in a pleasant setting, at beautiful tables laid without cutlery.
Debrief and review: strengths, difficulties, areas for improvement.
Ils l’ont vécu
“It was a great experience because we had to think differently, not do something simple, and concentrate the flavours. It isn’t easy to create and shape such small bites!”
“Students learn that, through their cooking, they can also help those who need it. It is another fundamental dimension of cooking.”
Ready to take up the challenge?
Write to us or give us a call. Together we will look at your project, the timetable and the arrangements, then formalise the partnership with an agreement. You will have our support at every stage, from designing the menu to the final review.