Under the crystal chandeliers of the gilded reception room of the Élysée Palace, inaugurated in 1889 with a party in front of 8,000 people, French President Emmanuel Macron received President Biden on Saturday evening at a state dinner intended to celebrate a very old alliance and to demonstrate that the connection is superior to its intermittent frictions.
Mr. Biden, addressing the French leader as “Emmanuel,” rose from a long table adorned with a bouquet of pink peonies and roses to say that “France was our first ally, and it’s not trivial.” He cited a book called “The Pocket Guide to France” that he said was distributed to American forces who, eight decades ago, fought their way up the cliffs of Normandy under a hail of Nazi gunfire to rescue Europe from tyranny.
“No bragging,” Mr. Biden said quoting the guide, “the French don’t like that!” The book urged American soldiers to be generous – “it won’t hurt you” – and said the French “speak democracy in a different language, but we are all in this together.”
This “same boat” of 1944 was invoked repeatedly during Mr. Biden’s five-day visit to France as still existing today in the form of joint French and US support for Ukraine in a battle against Russia defined as essential for the defense of European freedom. . “We stand together when the going gets tough,” Mr. Biden said.
The departure was little more than a sumptuous dinner served at tables set between the fluted columns of a room designed a century after the French Revolution to project the glory of the Republic.
Under the gold caryatids and a medallion painted on the ceiling reading “The Republic Saves the Peace”, battalions of waiters in livery, white bow ties, carrying silver trays, served with impeccable precision a four-course meal accompanied by champagne and a Château Margaux 2006 that it took 18 years to obtain. perfection.
There was a light salad that transformed the plates into little works of art adorned with fennel, peas, other vegetables and assorted petals gathered around a puddle of vinaigrette. A dish of chicken, rice, artichokes and carrots followed – which seems simple, except that, on a base of artichoke hearts, shards of different colored carrots had been rolled into the shape of a rose. A cheese course led to a finish of chocolate, strawberries and raspberries, always in the shape of a rose, enlivened by a coulis of “carnal thorns”, whatever that was. In any case, it was very good.
President Macron sleeps little, appreciates good cuisine and has a taste for wines from the great French châteaux. In this he differs from his immediate predecessors, who had less time for culinary diplomacy, a French tradition that endured through the monarchy, the empire and the five republics.
“We have institutionalized the diplomatic dinner, especially since Napoleon,” said Marion Tayart de Borms, a historian of French culinary arts. “This is why a new president always greets his leader as one of his first gestures. At the state dinner, everything has political and cultural meaning and must be balanced. The issue is not limited to the plates.”
The balance of the dinner was well settled. The tables had names including Great Smoky Mountains, Cevennes, the Everglades, Redwood and Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department of France. Gabriel Attal, the French prime minister; director Claude Lelouch (a favorite of Mr. Biden for his film “A Man and a Woman”); and a host of French senators and entertainers mingled with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and John McEnroe, the tennis star turned commentator.
A military band played “Amazing Grace” during the main course, “New York, New York” right after and “My Way” with Brillat-Savarin oozing out. French contributions to the musical offering included Charles Trenet’s “La Mer” and a Handel sonata for cello and violin, with which brothers Gautier and Renaud Capuçon serenaded Mr. Biden and the first lady to applause fed.
When Mr. Macron opened the dinner, he assured guests that “it will be a toast, not a speech, and very short.” He largely, and somewhat surprisingly, kept his word. Addressing “dear Joe and dear Jill,” he spoke of the “spirit of 1776” that is always in the air when French and Americans come together, an allusion to France’s decisive support for the fledgling United States. during the War of Independence.
The American GIs who, on June 6, 1944, “gave their lives for a country they did not know,” helped to forge “an indestructible bond,” Mr. Macron said. “We, Americans and French, have a mutual fascination. We are living the American dream. You live the French way. We are possessive of what sets us apart and we are the best of friends.
In fact, friendship can be thorny, and Mr. Macron, in good Gaullist tradition, likes to say that France will “never be the vassal of the United States”. The two countries’ policies toward Ukraine and Israel are not exactly aligned, but, as the dinner demonstrated, a large reserve of goodwill tends to iron out differences.
Mr. Biden’s timing was good as Mr. Macron’s predecessors were less inclined toward culinary diplomacy. “It’s been 15 years since we had a gourmet president, who has a deep knowledge of gastronomy, its pleasures, but also its economic importance for France,” declared Olivia Grégoire, the Minister of Tourism, in an interview.
She described François Hollande, who was president from 2012 until Mr Macron came to power in 2017, as “loving good food but always watching his weight, not wanting to be fat, and so he was very strict “.
As for Nicolas Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, “he never drank wine, lunched and dined extremely quickly”.
Éric Duquenne, who was chef de cuisine at the Élysée under President Sarkozy, said a state dinner for a visiting head of state lasted 35 minutes. “It was the record,” he said. “Sarkozy considered this table a waste of time. All he drank was Coke Zero or cranberry juice.
Mr. Duquenne recalled a state dinner for former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that included lamb cooked for seven hours to form a confit. “It was a perfect marriage between our tradition and theirs, and that’s what we want, because French hunters traditionally give lamb to bakers to put in the bread oven for hours until it is smooth and soft.”
But lately, he says, culinary tastes have become lighter, even at the Élysée. The days of cuts of lamb, beef cheeks and game at state dinners have given way to poultry and fish, he said. “You no longer need to sleep right after eating.”
A rousing rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” swept away any possible drowsiness. It seemed to sum up the spirit of a Parisian evening devoted to the idea that an ancient alliance is still relevant and essential to the survival of Ukrainian freedom.
