Jean Sulpice x Marie Bochet, the appetite to transcend the impossible

Facing Lake Annecy, their gazes turn in the same direction. Ahead of them lies the Bauges massif, where chef Jean Sulpice pushes his physical limits - by ski touring - as much as his culinary ones, as he inhales the scents of the wild herbs that will inspire his next dish. As for Marie Bochet, a child of the Beaufort peaks, she has made her way to the Paralympic summits of alpine skiing without considering her handicap as an obstacle. Each of them copes with high-level competition in his or her own professional field, while drawing on the same ingredients. There's rigor, concentration, but also precision of gesture, or even surpassing oneself. In this year of sport, the meeting was an obvious choice.

What role does sport play in your lives, and in particular skiing, for which you are both passionate?

Jean Sulpice: I started ski touring when I arrived in Val Thorens over fifteen years ago [he was head of the Oxalys until 2016, when he moved to the shores of Lake Annecy, editor's note]. When I go to the mountains, I'm looking for freedom. I find in this practice what I love about cooking, which is adapting to the terrain. I never follow a recipe! I prefer to create and innovate. Sport makes me feel alive. If I don't do it regularly, I don't feel well.

Marie Brochet: For geographical reasons, skiing was an obvious choice for me. My history is rooted in the Beaufortain valley. There are very few people who don't exercise here. Many producers wear the double hat of farmer and sportsman. Some are ski instructors, others are champions, like Florent Perrier. Farming is a physical sport. Just look at their build. They look like athletes.

Isn't physical activity a way of keeping fit and tackling tiring days?

M. B: Sport is a way of life. It gives those who work outdoors, especially in the mountain pastures, a physical capacity for resistance.

J. S.: Sport helps you keep up with the pace of the services. I draw my energy from the endorphins produced by physical activity. I don't sleep much, but my sleep is deep thanks to this good fatigue. I try to cultivate performance - performance in relation to my job, performance in sleep and performance in sport. It's all connected. I have the impression of maintaining lucidity in this way. When I leave for a training session with worries, I come back with solutions. You sort things out during the effort. It's when things get tough that I feel better.

You recently took part in the Pierra Menta, a technically demanding ski-mountaineering race. Why did you take on this challenge?

J. S.: I'm looking for challenges. I didn't set out to reach the top places. I wanted to put in place a sportsman's mentality, to be precise in my movements, diet, sleep and stress. The idea is to do your best and be satisfied with yourself. I'd been hearing about this legendary race for a long time. I wanted to experience this magic as an actor, not a spectator. It's another way of experiencing the Beaufortain region.

You talk about surpassing yourself. Isn't the very essence of a top-level athlete to push back one's limits?

M. B.: Of course, it's part of who we are, and it allows us to learn more about ourselves. So we know what we're capable of. Some personalities need to challenge themselves. And it's also by pushing our limits that we learn to put a lot of things into perspective. When you win a gold medal at the Games, you're demonstrating just how far you've gone beyond your physical and psychological limits. The mental performance is the biggest part. I put an end to my career last March, but I'm not afraid of what's to come, thanks to this mindset which proved to me that no event was insurmountable.

Shooting, service sequences and rigor are all part of your daily routine as a chef. Didn't you also have to build up a mentality of steel?

J. S.: The psychological aspect is key. High-level performance, whether in culinary or sporting terms, is correlated with an iron mentality! It's true that sport feeds my culinary expression. You shouldn't think of sport or cooking as a show of strength. Athletes and chefs may seem to be strong people. But it's not the muscles that do the pushing, it's the head. And not everyone is mentally gifted. I'm convinced that everyone is born with a base.

Don't you think it builds and strengthens with experience?

J. S.: It's a base that hardens over time. You have to nurture it through desire and the people you meet along the way. When you have the soul of a sportsman, there's no such thing as giving up. It's a state of mind. The harder it is, the better you are. We've got that can-do mentality.

M. B. : It's true that the mind is something you discover as you go along, through the challenges that reveal things about you. In sport, there are some very good technicians, but the ones who stand out are those who manage to be ready on D-day. Physical preparation is something almost everyone can do. There are learning methods for mastering this or that sporting technique. But you need that little something extra, which is in your head and in your will.

J. S.: You don't have to be very good at training, but at the time of the test you could be recognized in your professional environment. In my profession, it's the same thing. I have to bring the right intensity at the right time. I have two shifts a day. I have to take the brigade with me so that we're regular every day. We have to be strong every day to deliver culinary emotion and ensure our customers' satisfaction.

Can we also compare a sporting competition to a gunfight, given the adrenalin that each of these moments provokes?

M. B.: Definitely! When you stand in front of the starting gate, there's that ball in your stomach. That galvanizing feeling is indescribable. That's when you let yourself express what you do best!

J. S. : For me, there's no pressure. I see the shot more as an impulse. I want to make the impossible possible, like when I went to Val Thorens. I didn't feel capable of doing it at the start. I wanted to prove the opposite, just as I did at the Auberge du Père Bise. In the end, you focus on all the positives and nurture them.

Do you think you each drew your temperament from the difficult trials of the past? You, Jean, when your elder brother, who was destined to become a great French cycling champion, had a terrible accident that left him a paraplegic. And you, Marie, because of your agenesis, a deformity of the left forearm...

M. B.: As far as I'm concerned, there are two sources of my nature. I see it as a difference that I've made my own. I had to accept it and, of course, it forges a different character. Acceptance was made easier by my childhood, which took place in a small valley. I grew up with people who had known me since I was a child. I lived in a benevolent cocoon. I'm also a farmer's daughter. Physical integrity is a very important aspect of this profession. My family pushed me to fend for myself and I wasn't overprotected. I think farmers are remarkable in their self-sacrifice. They rise above the weather and physical difficulties... There's no choice when you have to milk cows in the mountain pastures. I grew up with these values.

J. S. : Until my brother's accident in 1995, I wasn't really aware of my disability. Then I realized that life isn't necessarily a long, quiet road. Nothing can be taken for granted. He sacrificed his adolescence to reach the highest level. The worst thing happened to him: he lost his work tool, his legs. Of course, this destabilized the family. At the time, I was just starting out in my profession. It was my turn to take charge. Up until then, I'd always followed in my brother's footsteps, accompanying him to competitions and training sessions. I had to accept a new life. Today, I'm raising my children to believe in life. And I also manage all my colleagues with the same philosophy. I consider myself lucky. There's nothing to complain about.

Do you see your job differently because of this family ordeal?

J. S. : Some time ago, I had an American customer over for dinner. He'd had a serious accident that meant he no longer had to eat by mouth, but via a feeding tube. So I came up with the idea of presenting him with each of the dishes prepared at the same pace as those served to the other guests. The plates went back to the kitchen and were mixed so that he could enjoy them too. We want to give him the same experience as any other customer. I think I drew this sensitivity from what happened to my brother. The most terrible thing about disability is the feeling of exclusion caused by the way others look at you. People with reduced mobility have more willpower. When I go skiing with my brother, he gives me the shivers, because I'm proud of him. It's important to show consideration for disabled sport! We have to look at it in a positive light. My brother is as much a lesson in life as Marie! He's a role model.

M. B. : The hardest thing is the way other people look at you, but also the way you look at yourself, especially when you're a teenager and you're not in tune with your body, and other people have trouble accepting that you're different. The problem today is that we are not sufficiently confronted with disability in France. The Paralympic Games are a way of talking more about it.

Your testimonials reveal just how important the relationship with the body is. Jean, as a chef, you have to taste all day long to sharpen your preparations... And you, Marie, as a top-level sportswoman, it's essential to follow a balanced diet to achieve your goals...

J. S. : I've had customers doubt that I'm the chef, and say "It's not you, you don't have a belly! "But I eat all day long! And I also tend to eat to cope with stress. But physical activity is one way of rebalancing.

M. B.: It's true that people do sport so they can eat! [Laughs] In fact, skiers are great gourmets. The body is our working tool. We have to take care of it. A healthy lifestyle enables us to reach higher goals.

This article is taken from Gault&Millau magazine #5. To make sure you don't miss any future issues, subscribe.