The Château Chinon Ingredients
You have to look hard to find this school, and this town built high above this remote Morvan region. But once you have got to know them, you uncover a well-kept secret.
It’s the ingredient that is the joy of the guests, the one that attracts from afar the visitors to a region, the one that has them hooked once they have tasted it, the one that makes everyday things more attractive, the one that makes a meal table into a feast: GASTRONOMY!
A highly enthusiastic and very professional team of teachers and students, led by Jean Michel Wautelet, showed itself able to show off this jewel in a favourable light, whether in the kitchen, in the dining room or at the reception.
The François Mitterrand School in Château-Chinon was a model, over the four days of the Christmas in Europe event, of how to teach French gastronomy and the recipes of Burgundy, all produced with panache and brilliantly served.
So it was no surprise that the student guests excelled themselves in their turn at the European buffet.
No surprise either that they developed a greater interest in what goes so well with gastronomic preparations: WINES
The AEHT Ingredients
These ‘intercultural meetings’ have to be experienced ‘from within’. It is rare for AEHT events to bring together fewer than at least ten nationalities.
What is more, almost by definition these events also span several generations. Each delegation leader (teacher or director) travels with a delegation which includes at least as many students as adults.
The deciders – présidents, headmasters, Studienräte, chefs de travaux, préside scolastico - all of these join the students in a common spirit of harmony and great mutual respect. Exchanges take place at all levels: at the levels of language, of ages, of professions, of hierarchy and of geographical provenance. The AEHT provides them with the reason, the motive, the motivation, the platform. Europe is part of the mix. We don’t say it often enough: the AEHT is one of the foundation stones of Europe’s hotel and tourism community …
Getting the recipe going
So to ensure success all that is needed is to mix together all the ingredients offered by Château-Chinon with those provided by the AEHT, and Christmas in Europe becomes a true magic potion!
Christiane Keller
