MGTO brings a Macau food and culture immersion to the heart of Paris
Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) launched this week in Paris a “Macau à table!” promotion to introduce the city’s gastronomy and culture as a calling card to invite more visitors from France - Macau’s second largest market in Europe, after the United Kingdom. Following a grand opening night held at the French capital yesterday, Macanese cooking classes will be conducted in several cities of France until October. The opening of “Macau à table!” took place at the historical monument of Palais Brongniart in the heart of Paris, with a Macanese menu prepared by chefs from Macau and France as the main attraction of the event. Two Macau Culinary Association chefs Mário Fernandes Gil and Wilson Fam, joined by executive chef of L’Atelier des Chefs Jean-Sébastien Bompoil, elaborated a Macanese food inspired menu for the occasion. The foods and deserts were cooked and served in demonstration booths for guests to taste and see the blend of East and West flavors that make up Macanese food. Around 200 travel trade, media and other guests joined the occasion, which besides offering a taste of Macau through its food it also brought in the atmosphere of the city with the display of a collection of images by Macau photographer António Leong. Touch-screen kiosks featuring the eight “Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities - Walking tour routes”, and more, were also set up to invite guests to explore the destination. The Macanese gastronomy promotion in France is organized by MGTO in partnership with the popular French cooking school L’Atelier des Chefs. To prepare the promotion, Macau Culinary Association chefs Mário Fernandes Gil and Wilson Fam were invited to conduct a training on Monday in Paris to teach chefs from L’Atelier des Chefs how to cook Macanese food. In the training session, the French chefs also learned about Macau as a tourism destination, its history and culture. Following the launch of “Macau à table!” at Palais Brongniart, the French chefs will now share their knowledge about Macanese food in a total of 90 cooking classes to be held between May and October in eight cities of France (Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Paris, Strasbourg and Toulouse) through L’Atelier des Chefs’ school network. During the cooking classes, participants will experience Macau through learning how to cook a typical Macanese menu. In addition, L’Atelier des Chefs produced a Macanese cooking book introducing five dishes, to support the project and help to further promote the city’s gastronomy and culture.
