Gérard Depardieu, one of France’s most prolific actors, has played a huge range of characters, but new series Bon Appetit! Gerard Depardieu's Europe (Saturday December 3, 5.30pm on SBS, then on SBS On Demand) shows him in a very different light.
A larger than life character, he’s incredibly passionate about food, and Bon Appetit! Gerard Depardieu's Europe traces his adventure around Europe, meeting and eating with the chefs and, more importantly, the producers who have shepherded centuries of tradition.
all about the new show
Bon Appetit! Gerard Depardieu's Europe
Accompanied by great friend and chef Laurent Audio, the jovially curmudgeonly pair love nothing more than deprecating each other, particularly over their tummy love. With Depardieu in particular, there’s a lot of shouting, swearing, roaring and sniffing, including the hair of baker Michel Izard’s young son, randomly.
Beautifully captured with stunning cinematography, it’s a joyous celebration of food in all its myriad wondrous forms, from muscular Highland cows to burrowing langoustines, from peppery seaweed to Espelette peppers.
It also has some unexpected moments - here are some hightlights from the first few episides.
Did you know?
In episode one (Saturday December 3, 5.30pm), visiting Roscoff, Brittany, Depardieu, chats to seaweed farmers who reveal it has no calories and a tone of vitamin C. Porphyra is great in an omelette and peppery laurencia with seafood or white meats. They export to Japan and Dubai.
Potatoes can be enriched by a combination of horse manure and seaweed, but only a touch or you’ll end up with too much nitrogen in the soil.
Source: Bon Appetit with Gérard Depardieu
Brittany baker Michel Izzard (he of the nice-smelling son) bakes unleavened Abers or ‘sailor’s bread’ two or three times until the crust thickens to prevent moisture getting in and will last a very long time.
In recognition of the Auld Alliance (Vieille Alliance) between Scotland and France, episode two 9December 10, 5.30pm) takes Depardieu and Audiot to Britain’s northerly reaches, opening with a spot of mackerel fishing in Loch Dunvegan.
Keith, a breeder of highland cows, ages the meat for at least five weeks, during which time it loses half of its weight.
Langoustines live in burrows, with Depardieu quite happy to cut one open live and eat raw with only olive oil and pepper as garnish.
Source: Bon Appetit with Gérard Depardieu
A passionate barman at the Eilean Iarmain pub in Slate, on the Isle of Skye, defends the true original of whisky in Scotland and explains that location is everything, so a whisky made in a place with peaty soil will be smoky, near the sea it will be salty and near mountain streams it will be smooth.
While hunting deer for venison, it’s revealed that a male only grows his horns at around four years old.
On finding dead jellyfish on the beach: " Can we eat them?". The answer is no.
On meeting Scottish crime writer Phillip Kerr, the author says the only food he can’t eat is Andouillette, a coarse-grained sausage made with pork intestines or chitterlings, with Depardieu acknowledging that it can be strange for newcomers as it, “smells of arse.”
Episode three (December 17, 5.30pm) takes the pair to Basque country, not in Spain, but rather back to their home country, with three of seven Basque regions actually in France.
Visiting Banka, trout farmers tell them that the large fish is perfect for carpaccio, and that the scales can even be used to make handbags.
Kintoa pigs were almost driven to extinction, with only 25 left in the 80s, but the efforts of a group of Pyrenees farmers saved them and they now happily dine on chestnuts fallen from trees, spitting out the burr and eating the good stuff inside.
Meeting with Depardieu’s Asterix and Obelix co-star Édouard Baer in Itxassou, they dine on the region’s celebrated Espelette pepper and learn about the Scoville scale used to measure the spiciness of chilli peppers.Espelette is very mild but flavoursome nonetheless.
Bon Appetit! Gerard Depardieu's Europe starts Saturday December 3 at 5.30pm on SBS, and will also be available on SBS On Demand.
