Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living -Issue 11 | Page 18

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FOOD
FREDERIK DE PUE
FLAMANT
&
F
rederik De Pue, the energetic and ambitious chef of
recently opened Flamant in West Annapolis, knew
from the age of just twelve that food and cooking
would be his muse, his inspiration, indeed, his life. “My
father once had the opportunity to purchase a large ship-
ment of wines from a warehouse in Antwerp,” Frederik
says with his characteristic charming smile as he settles
into a chair in his upstairs office overlooking Annapolis
Street to tell me his story. “Unknown to him at the time,
this shipment contained some of the best wines in the
world. I mean they were really incredible. And we drank
them all and enjoyed them all and it was his cooking and
these wines that I first tasted as a boy and that formed my
impression of good food and wine. When I look back, I see
that these meals with my father and the dinner parties he
enjoyed creating for his guests and our family really were
the start of my love for cooking.”
When Frederik was preparing for high school, his father
asked him what he wanted to do with his life. “He said ‘well,
you love food and you like cooking, what if you become a
chef?’ So I agreed, and that is where my culinary life be-
gan.” He enrolled at Hotelschool Ter Duinen, an elite Catho-
lic boarding school dedicated exclusively to Culinary and
18
GREENBOOK | SUMMER 2017
By Diana Love
Hotel Management in Koksijde, Belgium, near Dunkirk.
Frederik attributes not just his kitchen skills, but especial-
ly his work ethic and ability to think and to work all over
the world to his years at Ter Duinen. “We were required to
wear a suit and tie for class and for meals. Even if you had
PE you had to change back into a suit. We took classes in
wine knowledge. As students we would go twice a week
to a three-course meal with wine at the table. We were
required to be fluent in four languages. We worked in the
restaurant and hotel until 11:00 at night. I did that every
day four years. It trains you to be very en pointe with these
kinds of things and that was a really amazing experience.”
Although students were able to take a four-month sum-
mer vacation, they were obliged to spend two months
to three months as interns. Frederik says he was very
driven, academically, athletically and personally during
those years. He interned first with Alan Chapelle in Lyon,
France, a 3 star Michelin Guide restaurant and from there
with Alain Ducasse in Monte Carlo. By age 19 he was a
graduate from a premier program, had interned at two
of the best restaurants in the world and by age 21 was
the youngest sous chef to run a European three star Mi-
chelin restaurant. His ambition was great but the experi-