Picnic next to the Canal Jemmapes

Picnic on the canal Jemmapes

With 30 euros in pocket, Marion's mission is to concoct a balanced meal for 3 people. From a visit to the Beauvau Market to an organic Bakery, she prepared a healthy, tasty, yet economical meal.

Interview with Marion Guillemard

Thursday Novembre 2nd 2017
Comme des Français | By Aphélie SRUN

1. Tell me about your career path and what is culinary styling?

Originally, when I was younger, I wanted to be a decorator for commercial advertisments. One day somebody told me that the chocolate in advertisements was fake. It was actually just colored paste! So I said to myself that later on I would create the decor for advertisements in order to make chocolate!

So I did an Applied Art Baccalaureate in order to become a Scenographer (Set designer) and then I went on to an art school.

I graduated with a DNSEP ( National Diploma of Visual Arts) from an art school in Dijon. But the more as time went on, the more things became a little vague for me. I was on the internet one day and I came across an article about the job of a culinary stylist and I thought, "That's what I want to do!"

I was very lucky to meet the right people who took me under their wings and allowed me to assist them in 2008. They taught me the trade and got me into the network.

2. Regarding the video of Comme les Français, why do you prepare a sandwich? What was your budget?

The idea was to try to eat well while on the go in Paris by preparing yourself a small improvised picnic.

If I am on visit to a city, I prefer to go to the market and find some excellent quality products from good producers. To not necessarily spent more than if we had to buy a ready prepared meal or go for a quick dish in little restaurant. But I want to make it myself, might as well go to the market, buy some good tomatoes, good bread at the bakery and a nice slice of ham at the deli! That's the point of the video!

Regarding the budget, it was a lot cheaper than if we had bought a sandwich or a salad in a bakery.

3. Do you find that eating well in Paris necessarily means being expensive?

There are many very good places in Paris where you can eat well. For a good snack, it costs about 10/15 euros per person, but it's pretty limited.

On the other hand, with 10 euro per person, you can easily buy some nice products in a good grocery shop, it's quite doable!

4. Do you have an idea for a quick and healthy recipe on a small budget that would suit visitors?

Why not just buy some bread rolls, burgers buns or bagels in a bakery and garnish them! A quick recipe of bagnat buns that I made: Burger buns, some good quality tuna, salad leaves, a few slices of tomato and a drizzle of olive oil!

5. From your professional experience, do you think that food that looks attractive is necessarily good?

No, not necessarily, or not all of the time anyway. The proof, if you look at the tomatoes (supposedly) "coeur de boeuf" at the supermarket that cost a fortune, they are completely floury and have no taste in the month of February. They can be nice every once in a while, but otherwise they are really not good.

6. What typical French dish do you prefer? What about dessert?

I honour my region with "les Oeufs en Meurette"! I'm not really a dessert person, but why not a nice raspberry or strawberry tart!

Marion is also the author of several cookbooks. A book to remember?

'Mon Tour du Monde en Cuisine ' with 77 world cuisine recipes. Simplified recipes with easy-to-find ingredients to cook at home as if you were on the other side of the world!

Translated into Turkish and Chinese, photos by Julien Attard and illustrations by Lise Herzog