Guillaume Gomez, head chef at France’s Elysee palace, answers questions during a cooking class for teenage members of an Israeli NGO that supports LGBT rights, at the French embassador’s residence in Tel Aviv on February 5, 2018 AFP / THOMAS COEX

The chef from France’s presidential palace traveled to Israel to give a cooking class to gay Jews and Muslims who have been rejected by their families, AFP reported Monday.

Guillaume Gomez, the head chef of the Elysee presidential palace, participated in the annual So French, So Food festival in Tel Aviv. He partnered with Beit Dror, an organization supporting gay people in Israel ostracized by their families.

Gomez taught the young people to make cannelloni spinach gratin and apple pie.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“It’s good for them to participate in this workshop,” Beit Dror director Yael Doyon told AFP. “This moment of happiness for these young people is not insignificant.”

One Jewish participant, identified only as “O,” said his ultra-Orthodox family kicked him out when he came out at age 16. “What a chance to cook alongside a chef of this level,” he said.

An 18-year-old participant who went by “L,” whose father is Muslim and his mother Christian, said he was a victim of physical violence during his adolescence. “Beit Dror saved my life,” he said. “I don’t believe in religion any more; I believe in myself now.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount