Of Grub and Guilt

While patronage of this order is undoubtedly helpful, its influence across the wider brush of our culinary landscape remains isolated and superficial. It does not flow through the veins of our culture as it does in France. When President Giscard d’Estaing presented Paul Bocuse with the Légion d’Honneur in 1975 and threw a lunch at the Elysée cooked by the country’s greatest chefs, the whole world sat up in awe. Given the dietary preferences and gastronomic disinterest of our own Royal family and Prime Minister, it is impossible to imagine the Queen allowing a similar bash to take place at Buckingham Palace, never mind the idea of bestowing a knighthood or the Order of Merit on one of our chefs. In fields like the arts, theatre and fashion, royal approval has helped to establish Britain as a world leader. British gastronomy, it seems, still has to wait its turn.