Three French stars in the Lufthansa sky

In January and February 2008, First and Business Class passengers on Lufthansa’s longhaul routes will have an opportunity to savour menus designed by a top international chef. For eight weeks, Anne-Sophie Pic from the Maison Pic restaurant in Valence in southern France will create palate-pleasing dishes for guests on board as part of the Lufthansa Star Chefs programme.

Among the highlights on the First Class menu are artichoke terrine served with seafood sauce, and roast pigeon in nut crust served with quinoa grains with dates and mint. Business Class passengers can look forward to such delicacies as porcini marinated roast beef and grilled zucchini, smoked marlin with basil crème fraîche accompanied by ratatouille salad or almond-crusted tilapia served with onion endive fondue and rice.

To date, Maison Pic has been awarded a total of nine Michelin stars. Three generations of the Pic family have now earned three-star ratings. In their day, Anne-Sophie Pic’s grandfather Alain and her father Jacques each gained three stars for their outstanding culinary skills. Earlier this year, Anne-Sophie also won the ultimate accolade in the international world of cuisine. But that is not all. In September of this year, she was voted “Chef of the Year” by 8,000 of her fellow chefs, making her the first woman in France to receive her country’s highest culinary award.

Initially, however, the slender Frenchwoman had intended to follow a different career. She studied business management in Paris and New York and it was only after graduating that she decided to return to her home and master the art of cooking. When her father died unexpectedly in 1992, the then 22-year-old took over the running of the family business before dedicating herself to her true passion, and moved back into the kitchen of Maison Pic.

In her cooking, Anne-Sophie Pic seeks to uphold the high standards established by her family, but she also seeks advice from the local fishermen, farmers and market stallholders from whom she sources her ingredients.

The Lufthansa Star Chef programme

Since January 2000 Lufthansa has taken its First and Business Class passengers to new culinary heights. Imaginative menus, created by top chefs from all over the world, make a Lufthansa flight a truly heavenly experience. To date, such international celebrities as Harald Wohlfahrt (Baiersbronn), Dieter Müller (Bergisch Gladbach), Frank Zlomke (Paarl, South Africa), Daniel Boulud (New York) and Paul Bocuse (Lyon) have been engaged as Lufthansa “Star Chefs”.

For the past three years, internationally renowned chefs have also created special menus on long-haul routes from Germany that reflect the culinary tastes and traditions of the respective destination.