Beneath the crystal chandeliers of the Elysee Palace’s gilded reception hall, opened in 1889 with a party for 8,000, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted President Biden Saturday night at a state dinner meant to celebrate an alliance very old and demonstrate that the The link is greater than its intermittent frictions.
Biden, addressing the French leader as “Emmanuel,” rose from a long table adorned with a bouquet of peonies and pink roses to say that “France was our first ally, and that is not insignificant.” He cited a book titled “The Pocket Guide to France” that he said was distributed to American forces who, eight decades ago, fought their way to the cliffs of Normandy through a hail of Nazi gunfire to wrest Europe from tyranny.
“No fanfare,” Biden quoted the guide, “the French don’t like that!” The book urged American soldiers to be generous (“it won’t hurt them”) and said that the French “happen to speak democracy in a different language, but we are all in the same boat.”
That “same ship” of 1944 has been repeatedly invoked during Biden’s five-day visit to France as still existing today in the form of joint French and US support for Ukraine in a battle against Russia defined as critical to the defense of European freedom. . “We stick together when things get tough,” Biden said.
The meeting was not that of a sumptuous dinner served on tables arranged between the fluted columns of a room conceived a century after the French Revolution to project the glory of the Republic.
Beneath gilded caryatids and a painted ceiling medallion that read “The Republic safeguards peace,” battalions of liveried waiters, with white bow ties and silver trays, served with impeccable precision a four-course meal accompanied by champagne and a Château Margaux 2006 that had taken 18 years to reach perfection.
There was a light salad that turned the plates into little works of art adorned with fennel, peas, other greens and assorted petals gathered around a puddle of vinaigrette. A plate of chicken, rice, artichokes and carrots followed, which sounds simple, except that, on a base of artichoke hearts, slices of various colored carrots had been rolled into the shape of a rose. A plate of cheese led to a finale of chocolate, strawberries and raspberries, again shaped like a rose, enlivened by a coulis of “carnal thorns”, whatever that is. In any case, it was very good.
President Macron sleeps little, enjoys good cuisine and likes wine from the great French castles. In this he differs from his immediate predecessors, who had less time for culinary diplomacy, a French tradition that has endured through the monarchy, the empire and five republics.
“We have institutionalized the diplomatic dinner, especially since Napoleon,” said Marion Tayart de Borms, a historian of French culinary arts. “That is why a new president always greets his chef as one of his first gestures. Everything at the state dinner has a political and cultural meaning and must be balanced. “What is at stake is not just on the plates.”
The balance at dinner was adjusted. The boards had names that included the Great Smoky Mountains, Cévennes, Everglades, Redwood and La Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department of France. Gabriel Attal, the French Prime Minister; film director Claude Lelouch (one of Biden’s favorites for his film “A Man and a Woman”); and a host of French senators and entertainers mingled with the likes of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and John McEnroe, the tennis star turned commentator.
A military band played “Amazing Grace” during the main course, “New York, New York” right afterward, and “My Way” with oozing Brillat-Savarin cheese. French contributions to the musical offering included Charles Trenet’s “La Mer” and a Handel sonata for cello and violin, with which brothers Gautier and Renaud Capuçon serenaded Mr. Biden and the first lady to wild applause.
When Macron opened the dinner, he assured guests that “it will be a toast, not a speech, and it will be very brief.” To a large extent, and somewhat surprisingly, he kept his word. Addressing “dear Joe and Jill,” he spoke of the “spirit of 1776” that is always in the air when French and Americans meet, alluding to France’s decisive support of the nascent United States during the Revolutionary War.
The American soldiers who on June 6, 1944 “gave their lives for a country they did not know” had helped forge “an unbreakable bond,” Macron said. “We Americans and French have a mutual fascination. We live the American dream. You live the French lifestyle. We are possessive of what sets us apart and we are the best of friends.”
In fact, friendship can be prickly and Macron, in good Gaullist tradition, likes to say that France “will never be a vassal of the United States.” The two countries’ policies toward Ukraine and Israel are not exactly aligned, but, as the dinner demonstrated, a deep reservoir of goodwill tends to smooth out differences.
Biden’s timing was good, as Macron’s predecessors have been less inclined toward culinary diplomacy. “It’s been 15 years since we had a president who is a gourmet, who has a deep knowledge of gastronomy, of its pleasures, but also of its economic importance for France,” Olivia Grégoire, Minister of Tourism, said in an interview.
He described François Hollande, who was president from 2012 until Macron took office in 2017, as “he liked good food but he always watched his weight, he didn’t want to get fat, so he was very strict.”
As for Nicolas Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, “he never drank wine and ate lunch and dinner extremely quickly.”
Éric Duquenne, who was chef at the Elysée Palace during Sarkozy’s presidency, said a state dinner for a visiting head of state lasted 35 minutes. “That was the record,” he said. “Sarkozy considered the table a waste of time. The only thing he drank was Coca-Cola Zero or cranberry juice.”
Duquenne recalled a state dinner for former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that included lamb cooked for seven hours to form a confit. “It was a perfect union between our tradition and theirs, which is what you want, because traditionally French hunters have given lamb to bakers to put in the bread oven for hours until it is buttery and soft.”
But lately, he said, culinary tastes have become lighter, even at the Elysée Palace. The days of pieces of lamb, beef cheeks and game at state dinners have given way to poultry and fish, she said. “It is no longer necessary to sleep immediately after eating.”
A moving rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” dispelled any potential drowsiness. It seemed to sum up the spirit of an evening in Paris dedicated to the idea that an ancient alliance remains relevant and essential to the survival of Ukrainian freedom.