Getting a taste of diplomacy in the kitchen
CAMBRIDGE -- Francois Gauthier, the French consul general in Boston, knows well how food can foster relations.
That's in part why he nominated Jacqueline Cattani, the chef who runs the kitchen at his home in Cambridge, for the Merite Agricole, France's oldest civil award.
At a reception for Cattani celebrating the award this spring, Gauthier noted, "Over the last year, we have had the pleasure of hosting, in this house, more than 1,000 guests. And I would not be surprised to learn that even if they enjoyed the pleasure of a good conversation, the beauty of being in good company, the charm and the mystery of the French-American friendship, their most memorable experience was the two or three hours spent in the dining room, and this experience has a name: Jacqueline."
You probably don't know who Cattani is, unless you happen to have met her at the home of Gauthier, or seen her with the previous consul and his wife, or their predecessors. For each of these families, the American-born Cattani has presided over their very French kitchens, preparing weeknight meals, receptions, and other special lunches and dinners. It was Gauthier who submitted Cattani's name to the French government for the award, an agricultural version of the famous military Legion d'honneur, dating back to 1883.
"For more than seven years, Jacqueline indeed has been at the heart of our diplomacy and has gained more clout and had more influence in the course of the French-American relationship, at least in the Boston area, than three consuls combined," said Gauthier.
At the time, he was speaking at a spring reception he and his wife, Francoise, hosted at their home to present Cattani with the award. As the chef for the French consul, Cattani might make a family dinner of poached cod and ratatouille. She likes to pass hot cheese gougeres -- little savory cream puffs -- at receptions, or sometimes pissaladiere, the Provencal onion and olive tart.
Cattani is easygoing, unassuming, and upbeat. Nothing seems to throw her off-kilter, she says, "not even when Monsieur adds three extra guests last-minute for a planned sit-down dinner." She seems amused, rather than frazzled, by something like this.
She moves around the kitchen of the Cambridge house with ease, having cooked professionally for most of her career. That is, until her husband became ill, and then passed away in 1999. She had nursed him for a year.
When her friend Ann Robert, co-owner of the former Maison Robert, heard about a temporary job cooking for a French family who wanted classic dinners, she phoned Cattani.
That family turned out to be the French consul, and ultimately the job became hers. As each new family moved into the Cambridge residence, her contract was renewed. And she says, each family was "a great fit."
Cattani studied with Madeleine Kamman at the former Modern Gourmet cooking school that Kamman ran in Newton Centre, earning the professional chef's diploma.
Married to Richard J. Cattani, an editorial writer for the Christian Science Monitor, and the mother of three, Jacky Cattani moved with her husband as he was posted in Chicago and Washington. She found freelance work teaching, recipe testing, food styling, and working as sous chef, then chef, at the Tabard Inn in Washington.
When the family returned to Boston in 1983, she taught at the school now called Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, then became the main instructor at Boston University's culinary certificate program.
Attending a diplomatic reception is an eye-opening experience, elegant and well-choreographed.
At her own reception, Cattani's three children, Jeremy, Ruth, who lives in England, and Gabriel, were present, along with former students, even favorite purveyors (Olga Russo of A. Russo and Sons in Watertown was invited), Ann Robert and her husband, Lucien; and Madeleine Kamman and her husband, Alan, who came from Florida. Guests listened to the award presentation and champagne toasts.
Then Kamman, Cattani's mentor, stepped forward to give her a 1929 French volume, "Le Grand Livre de la Cuisine," by Prosper Montagne and Prosper Salles. "When your time comes to retire," said Kamman, "please pass this masterwork to yet another cook and scholar so it continues inspiring the generations that will follow us.
"May the winds of inspiration remain at your back as long as you wish them to sustain your lovely culinary talent." 