I hate airports, all airports... Too many people, too much stress; my own, other people's. Too much noise, too much stress. Too much noise, too much too much. I'm like a bear in an airport. I shut down. People ask me if I don't find them a bit more welcoming now, they tell me that a lot of efforts have been made... They tell me all that. But as for me, I'm content to observe thatthey tend to be a little less barbaricperhaps.
When I'm abroad, I make the most of all my free time to discover and take a look at other cultures...
Ever since I was a child, my parents have taken me on holidays in France and Europe only, because it's easier to travel by car with children. And I liked that. Today, I've kept that a taste of elsewhereEven though I do a lot of travelling as part of my job. In fact, I make the most of every free moment I have to discover something new, to take a look at other culturesI'm interested in history and, more generally, in all forms of artistic expression, architecture and contemporary art. That's how, a few years ago, I discovered an extraordinary open-air contemporary art centre, Inhotimin Brazil, or the island of Teshima in Japan. Japan.
I went there about fifty times in Japan, and I still go there often. I just love it there. You're in another world there, a hermetic universe where you can't understand the written word and people speak very little English. Really, it's not an easy culture to get to grips with. And, despite my various visits, I always discover something new and surprising. When my commitments leave me the time, I take the opportunity to prepare my trip, to organise meetings for me with producers of tea, for example, or wasabi, and even wheat.
I'm interested in everything to do with gastronomyAnd not just in Japan. Savoury, sweet, bakery, ingredients, all that sort of thing. When I'm abroad, a trip to the supermarket teaches me a lot about a country's eating habits. I'm also perfectly capable of crossing a street to see what's on display in the window of a small local bakery. In fact, that's how I came across a bakery window in Sète that was full of little balls of bread. They looked like spools of thread, but they were dough. They're called pâtés de Pézenas, they're sweet and savoury, and they're absolutely delicious. So one day, I made some.
we love a challenge in our homes
I also like see colleagues. But when I say colleagues, I mean colleagues in the broadest sense of the word; they can be chefs, pastry chefs or pork butchers, whether here in France or abroad. We talk, we joke, we tell each other our stories and we share our latest challenges. Because traditionally, we love a challenge in our homes. My latest challenge? To find a recipe that will enable us tosending macaroons into spaceas a gift from the earth to Thomas Pesquet when he was up there, alone in his space station. It wasn't easy, but I loved doing it. Deep down, I'd love to go into space myself. It's every human being's dream, isn't it?
KEY DATES
- 20 November 1961: Born in Colmar.
- August 1976: Apprenticeship with Gaston Lenôtre.
- 1998 : Creation of Maison Hermé.
- 22 February 2017: Pierre Hermé macaroons arrive on the International Space Station.
