Famous People: Yves Thuriès

Yves Thuriès was born on 5th June 1938 in the small bakery of Lempaut (south of Tarn). At 14 years old, he completed his apprenticeship in the pâtisserie Benoît Barné in Castres and obtained his CAP diploma at the age of 17 in Toulouse. Then he started his « Tour de France». In 1968, M. Jantou from Toulouse sold his “patisserie” in Gaillac to his employee, Yves Thuriès. This small business first started with only one apprentice. It was the era of many cooking prizes. Yves Thuriès entered the competition in Paris of the « Meilleurs Ouvriers de France », the best workers in France. His work was incredible and he was awarded prizes in 2 specialties which had never been heard of before. Yves Thuriès is highly respected by the whole of the profession and is often approached by gastronomic journalists. In 1977, Yves Thuriès published the first volume of the « La pâtisserie française”. It was the first cooking book to have many pictures. This encyclopedia, translated into several languages, became the reference manual for more than 200,000 professionals. In 1978, Yves Thuriès settled in Cordes-sur-Ciel and created a cooking laboratory.

The next year, Yves Thuriès received the Culinary Trophy awarded to the Chef of the Year. In 1980, Yves Thuriès purchased the restaurant Le Grand Ecuyer that became the most rated restaurant in the region. Many personalites, such as Elizabeth the Queen Mother and François Mitterrand, have dined in this restaurant. The same year, he exported his knowledge throughout the world and successively opened patisserie shops in Dakar and in Abidjan, then in the States where he trains teams in Los Angeles, Dallas and San Francisco. He also gave cooking demonstrations in Germany, Spain Switzerland, Belgium and Italy aswell as in Japan, Thailand and China. In 1985, Yves Thuriès purchased the « Hostellerie du Vieux Cordes ». It becomes his «bistrot ». Three years later, Yves Thuriès produced the Gastronomic Magazine , aimed mainly at professionals and presents a modern , inventive and lively cookery art. Then in 1989, he opened the Sugarcraft Museum, “Musée de l’Art du Sucre », located in the old city of Cordes sur Ciel. Two exhibition rooms contain 100 pieces of sugarcraft. He also created and launched a range of luxury chocolates made traditionally by « la Chocolaterie Excellence ». Yves Thuriès was elected President of the “Meilleurs Ouvriers de France” for south-west France in 1995. And the next year, the first marbled chocolate was produced Today his name is highly renowned in the food and chocolate world. He generates a large turnover and employs more than 200 people.