P.S. 1 has long been a breeding ground for art lovers, music aficionados and cutting-edge culture vultures. Now you can add foodies to that clique.
This weekend, the Long Island City museum is playing host to Le Fooding d’Amour Paris-New York, an outdoor bash showcasing a roster of chefs both French and American, plus deejays, cocktails, artists and more.
The two-day event is the brainchild of Le Fooding, a provocative French culinary organization created in Paris in 2000. Combining the words “food” and “feeling,” it champions a more relaxed approach to dining and challenges the strict gastronomic order represented by the Michelin-star system.
“There is no one superior cuisine. All cuisine made with sincerity, personality and taste is good cuisine,” says Le Fooding co-founder Alexandre Cammas, who has spent the past six months living in Brooklyn while organizing this weekend’s event, which is expected to draw upward of 1,000 people each night.
In addition to publishing a cheeky restaurant guidebook and a wildly popular Web site, Le Fooding hosts casual dine-around events that fly in the face of Paris’ staid temples of haute cuisine. “We have to cook in freedom because if we don’t, France will stay a museum of old gastronomy,” says Cammas.
This egalitarian trend has had a parallel evolution in New York, where starched tablecloths and haughty maitre d’s have increasingly given way to boisterous eateries, casual service and gourmet chefs cooking formerly pedestrian foods with meticulous care.
More than a dozen chefs from New York and Paris will bring the brash Le Fooding sensibility to the masses on Friday and Saturday nights. Local participants include master of high-low cooking David Chang of the Momofuku empire, rising star Julie Farias of The General Greene in Brooklyn, and haute chef Daniel Boulud, who isn’t above flipping burgers on the Bowery at DBGB Kitchen & Bar.
New Yorkers will also have the chance to taste the cooking of rebellious French chefs like Yves Camdeborde, who left a Michelin-starred kitchen to open a small bistro — sparking a new school of French dining in the process.
The Franco-American connection will also be felt on the beverage menu, which features a Veuve Clicquot VIP bar and Belvedere cocktails from Plaza Athenée and Dutch Kills available for purchase — a first for typically wine-focused Le Fooding events.
And since Le Fooding is about coloring outside the lines, graphic designers and deejays (LCD Soundsystem, Paul Sevigny) will provide further sensory stimulation.
“Finally in France — for certain types of Parisians — and in New York City, the people like the same things,” says Cammas. “They like when the products are good, they like when it’s not too expensive just for some gimmick.”
A limited number of $30 tickets available at the door on Friday and Saturday; VIP entry at 6 p.m., general admission at 7 p.m.; 22-25 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, Queens; lefoodingdamour.com. Proceeds support Action Against Hunger.