Naïs Pirollet, going for gold?

When did you know that you would make cookery your profession?

In year 10 at school, I got an opportunity to do work experience with Stéphane Froidevaux, chef of the restaurant Le Fantin-Latour*, in Grenoble. The idea was to test myself and see if I’d enjoy working in a kitchen, as I’d had the idea in my mind since I was 8 years old. My Mum cooked for us when we were small and we would help her. We started making Christmas cakes and little biscuits (a nod to our roots in Alsace). Very soon, I asked to do more. My grandmother bought me my first cookery book and when I came home from school, in years 3 and 4, I would open my book and make up a recipe based on what I found in the cupboards. 

After secondary school, you joined the Institut Paul Bocuse in Écully…

I enrolled at the Institut Paul Bocuse (IPB), but I wasn’t allowed in at first because I was too young. I skipped a year and I was born at the end of the year, so I passed my school leaving qualification when I was 16. The problem was you have to be over 18 to start doing work placements. I rebelled like the teenager that I was [laughs], saying that if cookery didn’t want me then I’d just turn my back on it. So I applied for some engineering courses and was accepted by INSA Lyon; but, in the end, the IPB recontacted me and invited me to apply to begin the following January. There, I took a three-year Bachelor’s in Culinary Arts and Catering Management. I graduated in October 2017, coming first in my year. 

While studying there, you worked at the training restaurant Saisons, which was awarded a Michelin star under the supervision of Davy Tissot, who would win the 2021 Bocuse d’Or…

We instantly clicked; he challenged me and spurred me on. One day, he came to ask me if I spoke English. I said ‘yes’ and he told me that I would be taking part in training of the United States team for the Bocuse d’Or. On the day of the competition, chefs work with an assistant that they don’t know. The United States were doing a final practise run, in France, and they were looking for somebody to play this role. I arrived really stressed and, only ten minutes in, I cut myself with the mandolin peeler! Two days later, they won!

You then left to work with David Toutain, in Paris, for two years, before joining the French team and Davy Tissot, is that right?

When Chef Tissot contacted me it was ideal, as I had just announced my departure. I was looking for a new experience and I wanted to leave Paris as it wasn’t my region. I had planned to take some time off, but ended up joining the team instead. I didn’t really know how I’d be able to help him, but I said to myself “when you get this kind of offer, don’t think twice, just say yes.”

© Susie Waroude

The rest is history: Davy Tissot won the trophy in 2021 and you became a candidate for the French team… 

I always thought I would enter the competition one day, but not so soon. It was the chef and the French team that convinced me to do it. I guess they saw some potential. I didn’t think I had the experience, but actually it was the right time as I was totally prepared for the Bocuse d’Or format. I still have plenty to learn in cookery, because I only have two years of experience in all, but I know the competition like the back of my hand.

You got through the selection process for the French team with flying colours...

I was from the winning team, I’m a woman and I was the youngest competitor. There were a lot of challenges, but I felt that it was possible. Before arriving in Reims, I was stressed, but once I got there, my assistant Cole Millard and I were calm. I wanted to promote the values that drive me forward in this profession, to show that everybody has a chance. I also wanted to show that there are no set paths and rules, and that the magic of cookery is that you can have a team formed of a 35-year-old Korean, a 22-year-old young lady from a small town in the mountains, and a Parisian born into a family of chefs for three generations. During the trials, we did what we had set out to do during preparations. It’s important to remember that I’d spent more than 50 hours observing how Davy Tissot and Arthur Debray worked, finding ways to save time. They really helped prepare me for the French team!

© Susie Waroude

How have you been preparing since?

One of Davy Tissot’s aims when he entered the competition was to build with a long-term view. He wanted to stop doing things in fits and starts. I’m very lucky as it’s the first time that a candidate has had access to recipes, equipment, contacts and a network from the get-go. I have tools at my disposal. They are part of a system that is still being set up, so it’s not perfect yet, but it has provided me with a foundation. Of course, Cole and I adapt it to our personalities; we develop our own approach, but we haven’t had to start from scratch. We are building on an existing foundation, with a French team that passes down its experience of the competition. I’ve also kept up the same work schedule, which includes sport, personalised strength training and sessions with a mental coach.

How do you handle the pressure?

I’ve been living in a bubble for three years, so sometimes I try to open up, raise my head and take a breather. It’s good to just be a young 25-year-old woman for an evening. I’m surrounded by supportive people: my friends, who help me in their own way and encourage me to take a break; and my family, which is always there for me. My little sister is studying medicine in Lyon and I see her fairly often. She’s a beacon for me. With her, I’m just a big sister again. My parents come to visit too. They’re always listening; it’s good to know that with them I can go back to being the little girl who likes to moan a bit to let off some steam. Sometimes you just feel like unloading, it’s human nature, but you need the right people to do it with.

What was the atmosphere like at the Bocuse d'or Europe?

Good! I was afraid it would be one of those things were everyone is tense and steams ahead. It’s actually more like a game of Monopoly. We roll the dice, move our counters forward and have fun together. There are only 24 people in the world sharing the same experience, so we naturally have a connection.

The challenges have just been announced; do they inspire you?

The advantage is that I have relatively little experience, so I just assume that I don’t know how to work with the ingredients. Whatever the challenge is, I need to learn the techniques. And it will be the same afterwards, when I go back to working in a restaurant. I’ll have my major strengths, like venison, pike or monkfish, but in very specific conditions.

After Tabata Mey, who is expecting a baby, and Jacques Marcon, who has become president of the jury, Édouard Loubet has now taken on the role of coach. How are things going?

We have a lot in common. His grandparents come from the same mountain village as my mother’s parents. It’s funny isn’t it? It’s little things like these that bring people together and create trust; the kind of coincidence that I like in life. I also really like the way Jacques Marcon thinks, his simple and calm approach to life. Like him, I think that we’re just cooks. We’re here to represent a country, but we just cook carrots at the end of the day. We don’t save lives; we don’t have the codes for nuclear weapons. We’re here to cook food and it’s something we do well, because we make sure we are prepared.

What did Lyon represent for you before you lived here? Why is it a city that matters (or not) on France’s food scene?

Lyon has many assets. It is a city on a human scale and it also has a central geographical location. It offers easy access to the mountains, the French capital and the sea. I like the idea of never being too far away from everything. It is also a city built on traditions, where gastronomic heritage goes hand in hand with modernity. Lyon has a deep-rooted culture of good food and quality ingredients. What makes it so rich today is the culinary diversity that you can find here. The people of Lyon are epicureans, connoisseurs who like to enjoy the fine things in life. Lyon is part of my life. I left the city but rapidly returned. When you love a place...

Biography

Aged 25 years old, Naïs Pirollet is the youngest contender in the Bocuse d'Or final and the only woman in the running among the 24 candidates. She was born in Nancy in 1997, and raised in Briançon, in the Hautes-Alpes, along with her four siblings. She passed her school leaving diploma specialised in science at the age of 16 and almost ended up becoming an engineer. During her studies at the Institut Paul Bocuse, in Écully, she worked alongside the chef Davy Tissot, with whom she took part in (and won) the last Bocuse d'Or, in 2021. Naïs also worked in Paris for two years, with the chef David Toutain**.
A hard worker, she shows incredible maturity and a great deal of humility. To cheer her on, you can go to Eurexpo for the world hospitality and food service event SIRHA, on the 22nd and 23rd of January 2023. With the support of the entire French team, Naïs will have 5½ hours to complete her two challenges, including a platter for 15 people, using monkfish, scallop and vegetable garnishes, as well as a preparation with legumes and mussels.

Naïs favourite adresses

“I like strolling here. I buy things to eat and there are little shops, creative designers and little gems to be discovered in the streets.”

“I love this concept of a socially engaged canteen. What I like about this initiative is that it’s designed for everybody. It’s not reserved for people who are hard up; it’s for anybody who needs some life and human contact. This really resonates with me, because I think that’s what food and meals are all about.”

“I come here to drink a glass of wine or beer and have a meal. I go to Brasserie Sathonay (5 Place Sathonay), Micro Sillon (6 Place Fernand-Rey) and Morfal (16 Rue Hippolyte-Flandrin). They are places with loads of great things to offer but they stay down-to-earth.”

“When I want good traditional food!”

“I’m a creature of habit; my baker knows what I like and she puts them to one side for me. There’s also a fantastic cheese shop that opened two years ago. And I go to the Pignol shop. Baptiste Pignol was in my year group. I always went to Maison Pignol with my mother when we came to Lyon and it’s great to see the way he is taking it forward.”