Home turf

Imagine delving into the bustling food scene of Paris. Sampling the very best produce on offer, enjoying a glass of wine and being guided to the finest providores by a personal guide well versed in the vibrant Paris culture. Now imagine that your personal guide is none other than internationally-acclaimed chef, Guillaume Brahimi and you have the ingredients of a very special Audi experience. Slated down for later this year, the two separate events will see Audi guests enjoy all of this and more when they visit the City of Lights.

Planned for September this year, the two ‘Foodie tour dates’ will see Guillaume host guests on a tour of some of his favourite local providers, showing off the local produce that is so dear to him, before joining him for lunch in one of his favourite French bistros.

“For me it’s a pleasure showing off the city where I was born,” says Guillaume of the program that mirrors Audi experience programs he has hosted for Audi in Australia.

Since the lifting of international travel restrictions last year, Brahimi has found himself back in his native France on numerous occasions filming episodes of his SBS series Guillaume’s Paris – the process stirring memories of growing up in the French capital.

Although unapologetically in love with his adopted home of Australia, the chance to walk the streets of Paris and show off just how good it is to visitors is simply irresistible to Brahimi.

His passion for the city and for those masters in their respective fields is contagious. He talks of the painstaking work these artisans pour into their work – be it baking wonderful breads, making exquisite cheeses, growing vegetables …  his respect and admiration is obvious.

But when asked if the markets and producers in Paris are better than in other cities, or what it is that sets them apart, he is characteristically diplomatic.

“We are very good in France at showcasing the produce of each season,” he says.

“We are obviously seeing farmers markets in Australia,” he says” but in France they have been doing it for hundreds of years.”

The fundamental difference he says of France is that it is not something that’s done as a special outing or a novelty, but rather that attending the produce markets is a way of life. 

And while the ‘creep’ of the modern world impacts food shopping all over the world, with supermarkets, home delivery and prepackaged goods the norm for so many, in Paris in particular, the farmers market, produce market culture ‘just keeps getting stronger’ says Guillaume.

In France it comes down to a way of life or knowing how to live – literally Savoir Vivre says Brahimi. 

“In France there’s a joke that at breakfast you talk about what you had for dinner, and at lunch you talk about what you had for breakfast and what you’t having for dinner. That’s the way the French eat.”

For a man who has long been a ‘window on his native France’ this Audi experience is a chance for him to show guests exactly what it is that he is talking about, right there in the very city itself. 

Certainly Paris is a source of great pride and passion for Brahimi as anyone taking part in the experience will quickly see.

For those travelling to France in September, Guillaume’s immersive food tour around ‘his Paris’ is not be missed, offering up a special view of the city through the eyes of the acclaimed chef.

To learn more and register, visit myAudi Australia.