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Food

A Michelin-Starred Chef Is Feeding Refugees in France

British tabloids have honed in on the fact that one of the four chefs cooking at a controversial new refugee camp in France formerly worked at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Photo via Flickr user Alpha

This week, a 12-acre refugee camp in France opened its doors to more than 2,000 men, women, and children seeking better lives than the ones they have now. And, goddamn it, they are eating well.

The new Jules Ferry camp is located near the French port of Calais, which has lately become a conduit for refugees and their families who plan to migrate, most often illegally, to the UK. The new camp has earned the nickname "Sangatte II," a reference to a highly controversial refugee camp that was located nearby, and was closed in 2002.

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Unsurprisingly, some Britons are fuming that UK citizens will be footing a portion of the bill. Half of the camp's annual £6 million budget will be paid for by the French government, with the other half coming from an EU grant paid in part by British tax money.

British tabloids have honed in on the fact that one of the center's four chefs is Christophe Duchene, who formerly worked at the Michelin-starred restaurant Auberge Du Dun near Dieppe. The Daily Mail points out with barely veiled outrage that the "three-course meals" served at the center "cost £2.30 each—three times more than the British Government spends on primary school meals."

With that kind of scratch and a Michelin man in the kitchen, surely these refugees will be dining on foie gras, Périgord truffles, and ortolan drowned in Armagnac, right?

Not exactly. While Duchene and his team have tailored their menu to their clientele—"They are African and Asian people and they like hot, spicy food, so we have laid on ample stocks of spices like curry, chili pepper sauce, turmeric and pepper," he told the Mail—don't expect anything too rarefied. Entrees will include the likes of lamb meatballs with vegetables, curried turkey, mutton stew, and beef with green peppers, while Sunday sees a special feast of stir-fried rabbit with potatoes.

It's worth noting that that third course ain't exactly molten chocolate cake, either. Refugees get the lucky option of either yogurt or seasonal fruit.

If any naysaying Britons would rather trade their Cornish pasties and Blackpool rock for that menu, we're sure they'll find plenty of volunteers at the camp.