Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2013
“Discipline is very important in my line of work…” Thierry Marx leans forward, his shaved head glinting under the lights. The man could pass for a prizefighter, a priest, or a well-mannered assassin. “Honesty is crucial to cooking. Honesty and…” He asks his French translator for the word. “Truth,” she replies.
Ponderous language for a chef perhaps, but Marx is no weekend brunch-slinger. With a generous helping of Michelin stars tucked into his apron, he’s one of France’s masters of molecular gastronomy, an experimental school of cooking where tweezers, beakers and liquid-nitrogen baths are often integral to the kitchen. Now in charge of dining at the Mandarin Oriental Paris, the former paratrooper has authored seven cookbooks, and served as judge on the French version of the Top Chef TV franchise. He has enjoyed the spotlight in Japan, as well, most recently at Odaiba’s Farming Frontier showcase, where he used Japanese produce to create dishes like scallop poêle with sunchoke in smoked-butter foam.
But that was not his first foray to the archipelago. A practicing Buddhist and judo black belt, Marx spends several months a year in Japan. He has also played a significant role in fundraising for 3/11-hit areas—explaining he is simply returning the favor. When French oysters were nearly wiped out by a virus in the late ’60s, Japan sent baby oysters from Tohoku to save their industry. After Japan’s disasters, Marx helped raise funds so those oysters’ likely descendants could return home.
Marx’s long relationship with Japanese culture began by accident. “When I was 12, I saw [Hiroshi Inagaki’s] Miyamoto Musashi and was fascinated.” He admired the samurai’s sense of honor and discipline, and emulating these traits became a lifelong goal: as a soldier, a chef, and a role model. Marx also runs a culinary school for underprivileged and at-risk youth, some of whom are incarcerated. They receive 12 weeks of training, and those that excel have a chance at a new start in the élite kitchens of France.
Marx grew up in similar neighborhoods. After a stint in the military, he discovered his true calling working for Claude Deligne and Joël Robuchon, two of France’s most celebrated restaurateurs. “They opened the door to French food for me, but they also helped me understand Japanese food,” says Marx. “Each cuisine travels a different road, but there are places where they come close to each other.”
Close, but Marx wishes closer. “In France, tradition and innovation are always battling,” he says. “In Japan, however, there was no battle, so innovation begins right away.” For a man seeking truth in cooking, Japan might be just the fertile ground he needs.
Thierry Marx hasn’t pitched his flag on Japanese soil yet, but try his friend and mentor Joël Robuchon, who has more Michelin stars than anyone in the world. Seven of them are sprinkled across three Tokyo establishments. www.robuchon.jp
