I could have started this ‘about page’ with something like:
Hi, my name is Fanny and I’m a pâtisserie-holic.
But no, I won’t.
Well it seems to be done already.

Anyway, my name is indeed Fanny and I’m currently a soon-to-be a product development manager for the food industry; sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

However, now 22 years old, I’m seriously thinking of becoming a pastry chef - I just want to graduate first and then we’ll see. Edit: I’m now 24, and a proud holder of the French CAP – basic diploma – in pâtisserie, yeah!

L’histoire de foodbeam

foodbeam was created in 2005 - at the time most of my friends considered me as a weird person. I mean, they were certainly happy to have beautiful cakes and luscious meals for birthdays and celebrations, but they couldn’t get why I was so passionate about food.

Now you’ve caught the background let’s get the actual facts.

During the 2005 summer – from the 2 July to the 17 to be accurate -, I was in Paris, sitting exams and doing oral presentations in order to show I was the best and that – yes – I deserved to enter one of the five Ecoles Nationales Supérieures d’Agronomie.
Basically these two crazy weeks consisted in me travelling Paris - lost and stressed as if my life was threatened.

Looking back, I didn’t have such a hard time; I’m just slightly exaggerating.
Indeed, from what I can recall (seems my memory is pretty effective at erasing the bad moments from my life) I remember watching Cuisine TV a lot (god bless my uncle’s television and its billions channels), shopping in Le Marais and Les Champs Elysées, acting in some crazy movies that my boyfriend had to film for his NY film academy summer courses…

Doesn’t really sound like much studying was involved, does it?

Obviously, this might be the reason why I was so stressed –-I knew I hadn’t studied enough; and because the concours is based on two full years of lectures, you have a lot to study (count at least 20 large binders - yep, the big fat ones).

It seems rather evident that I heavily procrastinated; my favourite activity – even if when I had 6 binders to know par coeur for the next day - was certainly to grab my laptop and browse the internet during hours.

This histoire is becoming a little too long so I’ll make it short: I stumbled upon nordljus and the traveler’s lunchbox and immediately fell in love.
So I wasn’t the only one?
Just back from Paris, I created my own blog and decided to call it foodbeam; but that’s another story and you know it.

PS. eventually I passed the test and entered ENSAT!

Pâtisserie & Sweetness

At first foodbeam was just a place for me to share my love for food (indeed the first tagline was ‘the food i love, the food i cook’) – both savoury and sweet.
But as time flied away, I grew up and so did foodbeam – a clear trend appeared: I was passionate about pâtisserie.
Thanks to foodbeam, I had finally discovered what makes me truly happy on a daily basis (well, without considering the people I love; I might be a pâtisserie freak, but my family and friends are worth more than anything - even a million cakes).

This doesn’t mean that I don’t have pleasure cooking. I still love it but I usually don’t have time to take pictures - it seems my parents, sister or boyfriend are greedy people (in a good way).

Fanny, the pâtissier

After I graduated from ENSAT, I thought that if there was one short chance of becoming a pâtissier it was a kind of now or never matter.

So I kindly asked Pascal Lac – one of the best pâtissiers around the French Riviera – if he could let me be an apprentie for a year. He agreed. On the 26 may 2009, I took the CAP exam, and proudly passed it with excellent grades.

I am now officialy a pâtissier. Next step: move to Paris or London, and find a job as a pastry cook. Life does feel exciting!

The pictures

I am taking pictures with a Sony DSC F828 but currently saving for the Canon EOS 400D. Can’t wait to get it and the 50mm f/1.8 lens and the 100mm f/2.8 lens! Canon EOS 400D fitted with both lenses. And I love it.

I love clean pictures that enhance food rather than the food styling – however this doesnt mean im not crazy for preps – it’s just that I like simple shots with vibrant tones. Hope you like them too :)
In case you want to know more about how I take food pictures, you might find the foodbeam food photography 101 I put together handy.

You can find me on flickr.