My Open Letter to Pierre Hermé

dansyoung — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:47:25 +0000

15 July 2011

Dear Pierre Hermé,

Imagine my delight when on the first of this month I received an invitation from your public relations representative in the UK to visit your Pierre Hermé Paris boutique in London (map), sample some of your incomparable macarons and share the experience with readers of youngandfoodish.com.

I was a great admirer of yours long before I sought your expertise for a 2009 Los Angeles Times article I wrote about the marriage of chocolate and matcha. In my household your 2010 opening on 13 Lowndes Street in London’s Belgravia was cause for celebration: No longer would I have to drop everything, travel to Paris and brave the permanent queue outside your boutique on the rue Bonaparte whenever I, or, more urgently, Mrs Young&Foodish, got the uncontrollable urge for a milk chocolate and passionfruit macaron.

Only after I’d arrived at your London boutique and removed my camera from its case did your UK Area Manager inform me of certain restrictions:

No photos of partly eaten macarons.
No photos of halved macarons.
No photos of a gloved hand handling macarons.
No photos of macarons with chocolates in the background.
No photos, nor mention by name, of the boutique manager.
No photos of any anyone in the boutique, even with their approval.

I’m sorry, was your area manager not aware that the url for my website was http://youngandfoodish.com, not http://herméandfoodish.com? As the only individual who decides which words and photos go on mywebsite I was determined to refuse all his demands and storm out of the boutique. The trouble is, one doesn’t think clearly when standing before hundreds of your macarons, all perfectly arranged like jewellery in a Tiffany display case. The knees weaken; the backbone turns to gelée.

Were your macarons merely variations on a common theme, identical objects but for the selection of flavours and colours, I might have held my ground. But my résistance weakened with the realisation that the texture and composition of each macaron variety before me was different, the fillings varying according to your design from the silky softness of a buttercream to the rich firmness of a ganache. If ever there was a challenge from which I dared not shrink the thorough tasting of your macaron assortment was it. The knowledge that your vanilla was, as always, a signature blend of three different premium vanillas had me raising three white flags – one each for Madagascar, Mexico and Tahiti.

I see myself as a reasonble man who understands that some rules and principles are for bending and others, such as the uncompromising standards you apply to chocolates and macarons, not. Much as I’ve revelled in my reign as absolute ruler of my website I am prepared to yield some editorial power. If someone other than me is to exercise veto power over images I can’t think of a better person to do so than you, Pierre Hermé, one of the world’s most exacting chocolatiers, pastry chefs and food artisans. As it happens I very much like the sound of this new policy:

All youngandfoodish.com content is subject to the approval of Daniel Young and Pierre Hermé.

Please review the five photos of your macarons in the slideshow below and let me know which if any I can keep on the site and which ones I should delete.

Yours sincerely,
Daniel Young

For Pierre Hermé’s response see My 15 Minutes with Macaron Maestro Pierre Hermé

[oqeygallery id=18]

boutique | YOUNG & FOODISH

My Open Letter to Pierre Hermé