Toulouse (AFP)
André Daguin, the former star chef and charismatic patron of French restaurants in the 2000s, died Tuesday in Auch at the age of 84, we learned from his daughter.
"He passed away today (Tuesday), peacefully, my mother was at his side, she was holding his hand, he fought to the end against pancreatic cancer," AFP told AFP. his daughter Ariane Daguin, confirming information from the daily newspaper Sud-Ouest.
André Daguin gave his reputation to duck breast. He died at his home in Auch, close to the Hotel de France where three generations of Daguin succeeded each other until 1997, when he had sold the business to chef Roland Garreau, according to La Dépêche du Midi .
In 1900, his grandfather, chef at the Hotel de France in Auch (Gers), was noticed by the first Michelin Guide. In 1926, the cook's son bought the hotel, where André was born on September 20, 1935.
Upon leaving the hotel school, André Daguin took over the family restaurant, where he received in 1960 a first Michelin star and, ten years later, a second.
In 1991, this Gascon, father of three children, became president of the National Federation of the French restoration then, in 1997, of the National Federation of the hotel industry (FNIH). He had finally abandoned the furnaces to become a standard bearer of hotel-restaurants, for a decade.
As such, Mr. Daguin led in the 2000s a fight for the reduction of VAT to 5.5% (against 19.6%) in the catering. A measure he had made his battle horse and which had come into force in July 2009.
"A great figure of Occitanie leaves us," reacted the president (PS) of the Occitan Region, Carole Delga, on Twitter.
"Through his work and talent, André #Daguin revolutionized southwestern cuisine, giving it international resonance, and we worked hand-in-hand to implement the + home-made label," Delga added.
© 2019 AFP