OP: In the Kitchen with Alain Passard

It should not be surprising that a graphic artist would be taken with the world of fine cooking. From the chefs of ancient Rome who realized that a brilliantly prepared dish of scarce red mullet could not just be dropped unceremoniously onto a platter, to the extravagant presentations of Carême at the tables of the aristocracy, to the plate artistry of today, the visual aspect of food has been a vital element. For the highly admired French illustrator Christophe Blaine, the creativity of the brilliant chef Alain Passard was too good to be ignored. Passard (1956– ) is himself an artist in almost every sense of the word. A native of Brittany, he discovered early on that performance with food was what he wanted to do. Getting his training, developing his skills and his credentials from such icons as Alain Senderans in his kitchen at L’Archestrate, he absorbed the importance of colors, shapes, aromas, and textures as vital supporting elements of taste.  The best materials for pursuing t