On March 16th, the French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France was at war with the novel coronavirus and imposed a countrywide thirty-day quarantine. At the same time, various associations launched public-support initiatives in Paris, to provide assistance to those most impacted by these events. One of the biggest is Les chefs Avec Les soignants (“The Chefs with the Health Workers”), started by the chef of the Elysees Palace, Guillaume Gomes, and the food journalist Stéphane Méjanès. The Vivid Minds talked with French chefs and owners of cafés and restaurants to learn how they are dealing with the crisis and embracing French solidarity during the pandemic.
