L’Assiette Gourm’Hand, a competition with chefs like no other, in “Infrarouge”

Their names are Kenza, Zakaria and Gloria and, like many young people their age, they have dreams in their heads… One in particular obsesses them, that of winning a place in the international L’Assiette Gourm’Hand competition. Suffering from a mental or psychological handicap, these three endearing and touching young adults take us behind the scenes of this unique competition. To be continued on Wednesday April 5 from 11.00 p.m. on France 2. This unpublished documentary will be followed by a debate.

Coming from the four corners of France but also from Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Morocco and Algeria, these apprentice cooks follow their objective with determination. But, behind this unfailing motivation, there is above all the idea and the desire for emancipation and a certain autonomy, encouraged by those close to them.

“Infrared – Like chefs”

© Arnaud Afchain / Tangerine Productions

For me, you are not handicapped… I never told you that, but I never accepted it.

Kenza’s father

It is thanks to chef Benoît Flahaut that L’Assiette Gourm’Hand was created in 2003. His wish is to organize an extraordinary competition for unique people. The goal is to offer them the opportunity to enter the big leagues by being recognized by their peers. Under the watchful eye of professionals in the trade – chefs and the best workers in France – the contenders for the competition, accompanied by their instructor, must in an hour and a half concoct a dish imposed by the jury made up of these professionals. The Gourm’Hand Plate is above all a kind of springboard and a means of promoting the work of these people with disabilities. Winner or not, the competition allows them to hope to integrate, therefollowing, the universe of the great restoration.

Portraits

Cancer is the youngest of her brigade, she is 21 years old. During confinement, she discovered cooking and since then this activity has become a passion, “a real love”, as she says. In 2021, she joined the kitchen team of ESAT Imprim Services in Lille.

I would like to show others that I am original… I would like to show my difference without being ashamed. And why not ? earn !

Cancer

Every morning of the week, Zakaria, 25, accompanied by his mother, traveled more than an hour to go to the AMSAT training center (Moroccan Association for Support and Assistance to People with Down Syndrome) in Rabat. After he was diagnosed with trisomy 21 at the age of 4 months, his mother moved heaven and earth to find a suitable establishment to welcome him from his early childhood and today allow him to learn cooking. .

“Infrared – Like chefs”

© Arnaud Afchain / Tangerine Productions

Gloria is 30 years old. She has tried several times to leave the Parisian restaurant La Table d’Émeraude, an ESAT (specialized establishment for adaptation through work) in which she has worked since the age of 18 to join different restaurants. But no one seems to take into account the difficulties related to his disability. Despite her cognitive problems due to her hydrocephalus and although she is independent and lives alone in a home, the young woman suffers from stigma, and feels limited in her job by not taking her disability into account.

People don’t understand my disability…sometimes they yell at me. It’s like I did it on purpose.

Gloria

Even if we observe a positive evolution, unfortunately, the unemployment rate of people with disabilities remains much higher than that of the active population.

Note of intent from the director Marie-Pierre Jaury

If the competition is at the heart of the dramaturgy of the film, if the cuisine favors the creation of a link with the spectator, my objective was first and foremost to give the floor to people to whom we almost never give it. I wanted to talk regarding mental disability other than in pathology and deficiencies, no longer giving the floor to specialists or doctors, but discovering people, in their uniqueness, through the preparation of a dish, following them throughout stages of the competition with their hopes or doubts.
In this extraordinary competition, surpassing oneself, the fight for excellence and determination are all the more important and vital issues as the place of these young people in society is far from certain. From an early age, they found themselves on the fringes of the school system, and therefore ultimately of the professional world. In turn, their place in society is also marginalized.
Kenza, Gloria, Zakaria – our characters – know how to cook. They are qualified, even very experienced, but they must benefit from a suitable and caring environment. It is not a question here of observing an episodic competition between apprentice cooks who turn into starred chefs in a few weeks, but of observing the progression of women and men for whom exercise is a matter of extra effort, of coping with their disability. Our attachment to the characters, our passion for their overcoming in the face of ever more complicated trials is substantially the same as for any candidate, and thus allows us to better focus on sharing their experience and their fight for recognition.

Infrared: Like chefs

The documentary will be followed by a debate presented by Marie Drucker with Jean-Christophe CombeMinister of Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities, and Yann Bucaille-Lanrezacentrepreneur and founder of “Joyful Café”

Presentation Marie Drucker

Documentary (52 min – 2023 – Unpublished) – Author and director Marie-Pierre Jaury – Producer Anne Labro – Production Tangerine Productions

Infrared: Like chefs is broadcast on Wednesday April 5 from 11.00 p.m. on France 2
To see and (re)see on france.tv

Posted by Fanta TRAORE on April 03, 2023