Rent a French Grandma With This New Personal Chef Service

A new website connects French retirees with customers in need of home cooking.

For those who long for grandma's home cooking there's a new service in France to ready to cure your nostalgia and fill your plates. Food & Wine reports that the site, Lou Papé, is renting out retirees with a passion for food as personal chefs. Founder Alizé Delbes came up with the idea when she moved to Paris but still craved her grandmother's food. Each chef is vetted for culinary skill and ability to relate to customers. They're then listed by cooking specialty such as fish or dessert. Prices range from 12 euros ($13.50 USD) to 42 euros ($47.50 USD) per person. Four chefs are currently listed for booking on the website.

In an interview with Munchies, a Lou Papé contractor named Beatrice says she was recruited after originally signing up for a similar retiree service in 2013. "I was already giving lessons to my friends, to my daughters, and their boyfriends, and I found it interesting to share my interests and desire to cook with people who never make food," she says. The money she earns through the website allows her to supplement her pension income, but it gives her the opportunity to pass on traditional cooking knowledge to her customers. Beatrice says: "Cooking is part of our heritage; it would be a shame if it's lost."

The French are increasingly concerned with preserving their culinary heritage and world reputation as a dining epicenter, as more foreign chains and cooking styles like barbecue invade the country. Last year, the French foreign minister announced that he had enlisted the country's top chefs to create a report and recommendations on how to preserve and boost the country's culinary dominance. Perhaps a few rental grandmas will inspire the new generations to take up the cause.

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