Les Étoiles de Mougins Food Festival Dazzles Gourmet Visitors 

Top chefs and gourmet experiences come together at the Etoiles de Mougins food festival, held every two years in the French Riviera village.

The village of Mougins, about 10km from Cannes, is perfect for moseying and meandering. The streets are relatively wide, and although some are just steep enough to require a bit of puff – it’s a medieval hilltop village, after all – the views are a stupendous reward. The Mediterranean glitters in the Bay of Cannes to the south, the Alps shimmer to the north, and almost every vantage point is ringed with a lush combination of blue sky and verdant green.

It’s bliss to wander here on any sleepy late-summer afternoon, but Mougins is transformed into a paradise for one weekend in September every two years, when – and this is just one example – you can taste samples of Black Jewel caviar placed on the back of your hand. It’s the traditional method for warming icy-cool caviar just enough to develop the flavour, and it’s the sort of detail you can experience at Les Étoiles de Mougins, the Festival International de la Gastronomie.

Never mind if caviar isn’t your thing. The streets and squares are lined with charming marquees shading some 70 producers and suppliers of artisanal products. Cheeses, chocolates and macarons, oysters, olive oils, spices and truffles, confitures, biscuits and ice cream… And of course wine, spirits and more wine. Some producers are local, such as 44°N, which makes a rosé-tinted vodka in Grasse using methods distilled from the perfume industry. Others, particularly this year, highlight the festival’s theme of celebrating the influence of French gastronomy on international cuisine.

But tasting is only one aspect of this unique festival. Since its inception in 2006, its reputation among influential chefs, both French and international, has expanded as fast as a waistline. This is where prominent chefs meet to share, exchange, and inspire each other. This year 120 chefs gathered for conferences, demonstrations, workshops, courses and competitions, most of which are open to the public. Conferences are free, though some other events charge a small fee. Where else could you listen to the former chef of the Elysée Palace (Guillaume Gomez, now France’s “Ambassadeur de la Gastronomie”) chatting with the chef of Monaco’s Royal Family (Christian Garcia) and the chef of France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Thierry Charrier)? Garcia is the head of the Club de Chefs des Chefs, an exclusive circle of chefs who prepare dinners and banquets for world leaders, and who are on speed-dial with each other to share information about their tastes.

Most events take place against a magnificent open-air mountain backdrop, and the impression that the chefs are enjoying themselves as much as their audiences is palpable. Reflecting the significance of the festival, many of the lively and entertaining demonstrations are by Michelin-starred chefs from around the world. They take place in the “Espace Roger Vergé”, named in honour of the chef who gained five stars for his two Mougins restaurants in the 1970s, firmly pinning the small village onto the international culinary map.

For the very hands-on among you (and not just on the tasty samples…), there are cooking courses with the opportunity to polish off what you’ve made. Priced from 25 €, these were irresistible opportunities to learn from, and with, chefs such as Kevin Rabateaud, chef-pâtissier of the 2-star Le Jules Verne in Paris, Yoric Tièche of the Grand Hôtel de Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Florian Gravelle of the 3-star Le Gabriel in Paris, to name but a few. Honing your mixology skills with, for example, the barman of the Majestic Barrière in Cannes was also a choice. Having this level of expertise collected all in one beautiful place is truly a rare treat.

This year, the Festival also hosted for the first time the “Dinner in the Sky” concept. A rectangular “table” with space for 22 daring safety-belted diners and a couple of brave chefs (attached to a safety line, fortunately, like trapeze artists) is hoisted into the sky by crane. It’s high up enough to enjoy the extraordinary 360° view, but also high enough to make dropping your knife a serious offence. At around 300 € for the experience, you should take plenty of photos for Instagram. I passed on that myself, because the pleasure of keeping my feet on the ground at Les Étoiles de Mougins was priceless.