Anton Mosimann unlocks his safe, delicately removing the oldest known cookbook, handwritten on velum in 1516 for the Vatican’s library.
With equal care, the renowned chef turns the pages to show me that 600 years ago, gastronomy existed for the privileged few.
The Swiss chef, who grew up in the tiny Swiss German village of Nidau, accompanying, as a toddler, his innkeeper father, to the local market, now has his own library. The Mosimann Collection can be found at the César Ritz Colleges in Bouveret, down the Lake of Geneva in the Valais.
The College, named after the famed Swiss hotelier, César Ritz, teaches students from all over the world the essence of hospitality and business acumen, for which Switzerland is known.
The Collection houses more than 6,000 cookbooks from the oldest (1516 for the Vatican’s library) to the newest, from the largest (66 x 47cm) to the smallest (10 x 6cm) – Nostradamus’ opus on jam making, handwritten in 1733), and more than 1,000 menus (including those he prepared for the British Royal Family – the wedding of William and Kate is among them as is one he prepared for the late Queen Mother Elizabeth’s 100th birthday). The last menu from the ill-fated Titanic will soon be in the collection’s safe, along with other irreplaceable items from the world of gastronomy. Chef Mosimann has been assembling his collection from his early days of chef in the best restaurants in Europe and beyond.
In 1975, The Dorchester hotel in London asked Mosimann to be its head chef. Over his 13 years at The Dorch (as the hotel is known to royals as well, along with well-heeled cognoscenti from those who escaped the London blitz to the hotel’s unique, and solid, poured concrete, art deco walls in Mayfair, instead of the underground bomb shelters where most Londoners sheltered) Mosimann assembled a kitchen brigade of 132 chefs and a cuisine known for its international, modern approach to gastronomy.
Before leaving the Dorchester in 1988, after many turbulent moments with the hotel’s owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Chef Mosimann tells me, ‘I handed in my notice and couldn’t help listing the two Michelin stars, 17 Gault Millau points, 50 international gold medals and a collection of diplomas, an OBE, honorary memberships and opened Mosimann’s, a private eating club in an 1830s small church on Belgrade Square.’
After 93 years as a Scottish Presbyterian church, The Belfry had become the home of Mrs Zoe Oakland Maund, a famous psychic. Following her death in 1935, sermons and séances were replaced with vegetables, fish and Shepherd’s Pie. Prince Philip’s infamous stag party before his marriage to the future Queen was held there. Chef Mosimann remained friends until the Duke’s passing in 1921.
‘We completely redesigned Nina Campbell’s original English interior. Of course, I wanted a really good kitchen,’ Chef Mosimann writes, in his beautiful and entertaining best-selling autobiography, Life is a Circus, published in 2017.
‘I had spent 27 years working in badly arranged layouts, workflow paths too long and absurdly positioned appliances.’
Clearly, Chef Mosimann has had an eye for food, detail and beauty during his 80 years and it showed as he led me through his fascinating collection. The Collection is open to the public on certain days, and to the College’s students daily, in hopes of inspiring them as future chefs or hoteliers.
‘I tell the students that I never yelled at my team – it’s important to be polite and helpful in this business of preparing fine food.’
Chef Mossiman’s gracious hosting me at lunch, following the personal tour and presenting me with an autographed copy of his book, in which he’s included nine beautifully photographed recipes – favorites of his star-studded clients, from Liz Taylor’s Roast Filet of Beef with Yorkshire Pudding to Princess Diana’s Risotto Al Fungi – says a lot about the dapper, twinkled-eyed man who one writer, called The Gentleman Chef, in his review of Mosimann’s opening.
