Chef and culinary concepts creator, Bogdan Alexandrescu attended the HEG programme in 2018. He explains how his work benefited from it.
Thanks to the HEG experience, my overall view about gastronomy, science and even life has changed and is now more complete, fresh and ready to be shared and applied in all my future projects.
As Maya Angelou once said, I strongly believe that our "
mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style"
After being a finalist of MasterChef Romania's 1st season in 2012, I got the courage and confidence to turn my biggest passion, cooking, into my career, leaving a job in the luxury goods industry and a Master's Degree in foreign languages in favor of a life filled with taste and color. Specializing in
food-styling,
private events,
restaurant experiences,
cooking demonstrations, various competitions and apprenticeship for amazing Chefs, TV & media culinary production and commercial & industrial food consultancy have all been laying for me a beautiful and spicy path in the past seven years for becoming a successful professional Chef; the hundreds of kilograms of books and many sleepless nights experimenting, researching and trying to "fail harder" helped too, I guess. So, high class cooking, from my point of view, must be constantly fueled by knowledge, experiments, practice, amazing new experiences and people, plus the constant need to reinvent yourself, translated into edible creations and feelings.
Ever since I found out 3 years ago about the
Advanced Studies in Taste programme, my thirst for knowledge constantly reminded me about it, in various occasions. It intrigued me. Last autumn, in 2018 I finally took the decision to make something for myself, to take some time off, break the routine and send my application form, hoping the committee will accept me for what will be one of the most amazing educationally and culturally enhancing experiences of my life.
I must admit that my expectations were high, and even from the beginning they were graciously surpassed. Everything about the H.E.G program is top-notch! but careful! - that doesn't mean you'll be on vacation...au contraire...the
amount of information, the
perfectly structured courses and
course material, the
amazing lecturers, the
modern teaching method which encourages debates and open-question sessions about
all the spheres of gastronomy, the experiences and flavors that burst into your brain and soul will keep your mind busy and generating or answering questions for months and months after it ends.
This experience will definitely change you, almost molecularly I would dare to say.
The
magic two weeks of the program take place in Paris and sunny Reims, spent at historical and educational temples of knowledge, alongside wonderful colleagues from around the world, which are now some of my dearest friends, all specialized in various gastronomically related domains.
Days are filled with amazing wine and dine experiences, practical courses, memories and the joy of "speaking the same language" with equally passionate experts and lovers of this art we call Cuisine. Joie-de-vivre, class and style!
I would like to deeply thank Ms. Edwige Régnier for the beautiful organization, the care she took of us ever since the beginning of communication via e-mail, until the day we nostalgically said in Reims that the two weeks went by so fast; for amazing grace, great advice and attention to detail in guiding us through this experience. I would like to equally thank Mrs. Colette Padet and Mr. Remi Krug for all the great advice, guidance and spoiling our minds and souls with such a diverse palette of learning experiences and memories that will last for a lifetime.
We had the most inspiring teachers and lecturers and amongst them, I was deeply honored to have the chance to meet and learn from some of my role-models like
Dr. Hervé This, Mrs. Chihiro Masui or Chef Philippe Mille, and great researchers plus specialists in so many gastronomy related fields.
Thanks to the H.E.G experience,
my overall view about gastronomy, science and even life has changed and is now
more complete, fresh and ready to be shared and applied in all my future projects, and by the way, it's already happening: I am currently the food concept creator and Chef of a restaurant in Paris, selected by Vogue, Le Figaro and many others amongst the top Parisian locations of the moment and also
working on my H.E.G Thesis research paper, which will approach a forgotten part of my local terroir and hopefully underline its importance for global gastronomy.
H.E.G really made my soul, heart and mind to thrive, wonder, question, enjoy, want to know more and inspire others, the way it inspired me. Thank you for this amazing opportunity and for granting me the honor of being selected for this exclusive learning experience.
Do you also want to take your passion for gastronomy to the next level?
