Gastronomic journalism occupies a special place in the press. If he is critical in essence, It retains a positivity that has become rare these days : It indeed contributes to making known and valuing trades, products, know-how, And all those who are active in the kitchen and indoors to make us live moments of discovery, relaxation and pleasure in restaurants. It’s a constructive journalism. Furthermore, This is the only journalism that everyone can verify the information : just go to the restaurant indicated ! This is why gastronomic journalism requires a particular talent to captivate attention and make felt dishes, Places and characters. This talent, Thierry Kasprowicz, Magazines designer Mets Pleasures, Then the right zest, writer and editor of the KasPro guide, Creator with the Maestro agency of the wine and gastronomy fair Vinocité, has it. We asked him to be our guest because the KasPro guide, whose 2026 edition will be released in December, will then celebrate its 10 years, And that this early October saw the sixth edition of the Vinocité Fair. These two important events for the wine and spirits and catering sector are now part of the Reunionese commercial life. They are expected by many people. But Thierry Kasprowicz is also a fine observer in these business sectors. Reunional catering in particular, of which he has followed the transformation for thirty years and whose current difficulties he knows. So many aspects that we approach from different angles. And we went to see the Maestro agency, masterpiece of wine, who is about to decline his professionalism and creativity in new projects.
Thierry Kasprowicz has opened his address book to invite personalities from the French world of wine and gastronomy :
here, in 2023, In the company of Philippe Faure-Brac, Winner of the Best Sommelier competition in the world in 1992.
Meeting Leader : How do you become a precursor of gastronomic journalism in Reunion ?
Thierry Kasprowicz : I arrived in Reunion in 1997. I do not have the basis of a journalist training. I studied geography and tourism. But I like to write and I have a passion for the world of wine. I became a little late gastronomic journalist late. My first press writings focused on wine. I worked, and I still, For national journals, Like the Revue du Vin de France, Land.
I am a corrector of Burgundy magazine today. I also write for websites specialized in wine. I learned journalism on the ground, by visiting many areas, By questioning winegrowers, Watching them work. The worlds of wine and gastronomy being concomitant, My field of interest has widened, And I have the pleasure of being able to devote myself to this art of living that compose wine and gastronomy.
All this resulted in the creation of Put pleasures, The first gourmet Reunionese magazine. What convinced you to embark on this adventure ?
Put pleasures released in 2010, This is the first gastronomic magazine in Reunion and the Indian Ocean. It must be specified, Because this magazine belonged to the Mauritian group La Sentinel. This group wanted to develop its press activity in Reunion. Gastronomy was an unwitting area locally and in tune with the times. My skills and my expertise in the wine and gastronomy began to be known. I was asked to design and take care of this title, I became the editorial director and the editor -in -chief. Put pleasures was a bimonthly : 80 % of the magazine was dedicated to Reunion, 20 % in Mauritius. We were a very small team. I made a lot of ground, which allowed me to meet many chefs, agrifood craftsmen, craftsmen from food trades, agricultural producers, These men and women exercising the trades linked to the world of the table. Put pleasures helped to highlight them, to show restoration in another way, to have the value of trades that we knew well or not. It was the time of the beginnings of culinary programs on television, Top Chef, MasterChef… We resonated with these programs with our local information. It was a very nice magazine. I had a lot of fun doing it, Despite our few means.
A gastronomic magazine : how reacted the world of Reunion catering at the time ahead of this novelty ?
Everyone was very touched, honoré, Let us be interested in them, that we move to see them, Let us know their work. They were shadow craftsmen. All agreed to express themselves. We were going to get them to shed light on pages of glossy paper. Some chefs did not have the recognition of their boss : that we talk about them, it was important. Be in a magazine, It is always felt as pride, A form of recognition.
Later a second magazine was born, The right zest, Where is the team of the Maestro event agency by your side is. Between Zest, which always exists, And put pleasant, what difference ?
I stopped puts pleasures in 2018 to devote myself to the KasPro guide and the Vinocité lounge. I came back to journalism with Zest, after Covid. The idea was obviously to continue this promotion of professionals, But by digging the human aspect more than the product, in a press product located between the magazine and the book. Show work, know-how. The "good zest", in Creole, It's the right way to do. We were making four numbers per year, with beautiful illustrations. Stéphane Tariffe, The team photographer, held the magazine with his wife, When Maestro and I left him to develop our other activities.
Le Guide Kaspro, A Reunionese gastronomic guide : still something new on the island.
Reunion lacks recognition in national guides, Whether in the Michelin guide or in other. There was a vacuum to fill. This observation came to me by working for pleasures, where I was gastronomic criticism. Still today, There is no Reunional presence in these guides. I felt there was also, As I said, a lack of recognition of local chiefs in relation to their work. The reputations of certain restaurants dated twenty or thirty years, they no longer corresponded to what they had become. I embarked on this project, Put the whole castle at low and rebatte the cards to be able to rebuild everything in the form of a modern gastronomic guide. I wanted to create something A to Z and register it in time. The KasPro guide will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year with its 2026 edition, to be published in early December as every year.
Weren't you trying to extend the KasPro guide field to other islands in the region : Maurice, Mayotte, Madagascar, Seychelles ?
I actually have it in mind, for some time, An idea of this kind. To organize it, You will have to have reliable relays on site. Furthermore, In other islands, There are interesting tables, but insufficient number to compose a full -fledged guide. The idea would be to hang up these tables to the Reunion edition of the guide by a special notebook. This selection would therefore be mainly intended for Reunionese who travel to the region.
What look at the Reunional catering from Métropole ?
There are many Reunionese restaurants in mainland France. Some are really Reunionese, Others open their spectrum to other Creole kitchens, to Mauritian specialties, West Indian. Which most often lacks these restaurants, These are the authentic products that make the flavors of Reunionese cuisine, this raw material which gives the salt of the taste of a Reunion plate. Tomato does not have the same taste in Reunion as in Metropolis. A hexagon thyme and a Creole thyme will not give the same meat flavor. If it was possible to find in mainland France designed products with Reunion tastes, Locally made sausages, Péi spices and peppers, It would be different.
Three of the wine sponsors 2025 : Gastronomic journalist Vincent Ferniot, Beninese chief of origin Georgiana Viou and the President of the Union of French Sommelier, Fabrice Sommier
Thierry Marx, President of UMIH *, said that French gastronomy was threatened with disappearance due to the closure of many restaurants. How is the Current Reunion Catering Currently, What is the morale of restaurateurs ?
Reunion catering is experiencing a small crisis, Linked to the conjuncture, upwards and the cost of energy, but also to an obvious lack of staff. Last year, When I made the 2025 edition of the guide, It was the first time that I saw so many restaurant closings. It is true that these closures were partially offset by openings from other establishments, But we felt a decline in catering. The post-Cavid effect also played, with the reimbursement of the loan guaranteed by the State (PGE), As in other sectors of activity. Faced with all these factors, The most fragile structures in terms of management have a lot of trouble holding.
All categories of restaurants are affected ?
The intermediate category is the one that suffers the most. Most of the tables that I have called in the "Di Maline Budgets" guide, With formulas less than 21 euros, work very well. At the other end of the scale, Large tables also work very well. They take advantage of the delta which has been reduced between the average tables and the large tables. He is no longer as marked as before. People with average budget today prefer to give up average tables and have fun paying for a large table.
The sixth edition of the Vinocité lounge opens its doors in a few days. How was this other project born : A local wine and gastronomy fair in Reunion ?
The Vinocité lounge was born from my meeting with the Maestro agency. I had the idea on the paper of a living room that would bring together and federate all the Reunion wines sectors : wine merchants, distributors, Representatives of wine and champagne brands, Local winegrowers of Cilaos. That they can meet and offer their products for a weekend, As in a conventional living room, With the particularities of Reunion. Maestro widened this vision, She became more ambitious. Profitability level, It has become a bet over several years. We built the living room together. From the first edition, at the Cité des Arts in Saint-Denis, The public answered present. We did the next edition at the Nordev exhibition center. We were already thinking of going to the West to have more space and being able to accommodate more exhibitors and more visitors, But the health crisis prevented us from it. We then returned to the Cité des Arts. The walls were no longer large enough, both for exhibitors and for the reception of the public. Too, Last year, We moved the living room in the west, In the Eden Garden. We started with 2,500 visitors in 2018. They were 9,000 in 2024. Saturday night, We had to refuse people because we had reached the authorized gauge. This is the sixth edition this year of wine.
Do not pass from a closed place to an open place does not change the nature of the event ?
We went from a living room mode to a more festival mode. Exhibitors, which could work before in the interior in very comfortable conditions of reception, adapted their stands to the outdoor mode. More space means more exhibitors : The show thus saw the arrival of the brewery, with the major brands and microbreweries of Reunion. The valuation of the premises is important to us. In the Spiring Village, almost all of the Reunionese brands of spirits are gathered. If the wine atmosphere is now due to the festival, It is also thanks to its tasting area, that has spread a lot, and to its entertainment program, especially the evening music scene. What we had barely sketched out at the Cité des Arts for lack of space, We offer it today, And it works very well. Part of the public that we won comes only for the gastronomy part and the animations of wine evenings, not for wine.
* Union of hotel professions and industries
A few words on the 2025 program ?
We are welcoming more beekeepers this year in the producer market area. Au food court central, different chefs will be at work, with beautiful names, Like Julien Leveneur in pastry, French champion 2022, Mathias Joma, Chef of the Saint-Pierre restaurant Le Lavoir, GEORGIOS SPACOS, Chef of the Epoca restaurant of Grande Anse… back too, the ephemeral restaurant to the chef who changes each service. The Carritologist of Reunion, André Concrete, will provide service. Salon godmother 2025, The Beninese chef installed in France Georgiana Viou, Michelin star, will offer one too. We find the wine competitions. Food Kèr market prices, Food heart chef, Special jury prize, Prix Drinks. The competition of the Association of Sommeliers de la Réunion, of which I have been the president since his creation. The competition of amateur-professional pairs on wine knowledge. The evening, Vinocité 2025 develops its festive part, on the tavergue with musical performances. It looks good, I would say.
To see the personalities you invite, Does the Vinocité lounge not help publicize the gastronomic meeting in mainland France ?
By ricochet effect, obviously, We are talking about the meeting in mainland France. Big names in French gastronomy participate in Vinocité. Last year, We had Hugo Riboulet, The talented young chef who won top chef in 2023. François-Régis Gaudry, well -known criticism and journalist, Summity in terms of French gastronomy, was there. This year, We receive Georgiana Viou, Fabrice Sommier, President of the Union of French Sommelier and Best Worker in France, Journalist Vincent Ferniot, Gastronomic columnist on the Public Senate and Sud Radio channel. Faithful of wine, The cheese maker Rodolphe the Meunier, Meilleur Ouvrier de France, is back, as well as the artist of the cocktail Ludwig Hartung, Schweppes brand trainer and ambassador.
You are at the forefront to observe the evolution of the restoration offer, but also demand, While eating behaviors change. Would you say that we eat better today than yesterday ?
Certainly much better than thirty years ago ! Hygiene conditions have changed drastically. The know-how of the cooks has progressed a lot. There are also more offers and more diversity in the offer to Reunion than thirty years ago. I could see this evolution. She intensified when we were launching the magazine Mets Pleasures, During the 2010s. A new generation of Reunionese chiefs has taken up the gastronomic scene to renew it by remaining attached to its history and to Reunionese culture. I created the term "Creolomy" to qualify this movement. These young chefs and cheffes work the popular product of the daily life of traditional cuisine and give it a gastronomic dimension. These Talent Reunionese cooks went to learn in large metropolitan houses. Upon their return, They reclaimed their terroir. Depending on the communities they belong, They reinvent the tastes that founded their childhood using techniques learned there.
Two vegan restaurants entered the KasPro 2025 guide : Is the future of catering in the plant ?
The presence of the plant is increasingly important in restoration. In the meeting, There is a plant tradition. The brèdes, the grains, occupy an important place in Reunionese cuisine. Today, We associate plants with health : It allows you to lighten meals. An economic reason may also play : It is clear that a carrot costs less than a beef coast. I see that plant is a source of creativity. I think a very beautiful page of Reunionese cuisine could be written with the plant. These two vegan restaurants are really very interesting intellectually. All restaurants should register a vegetarian plate on their menu, it should be systematic, input, dish or dessert. Not necessarily vegan, but at least vegetarian. It would be a way of treating your hospitality towards vegetarian people, who are often uncomfortable at the restaurant when they have to announce that they don't eat meat. The flexitarian trend develops in Reunion : that is to be taken into consideration. Myself, I am omnivorous, But I like to eat vegetables. There can be very nice surprises with vegetables.
By opening up to gastronomy and evening concerts, Vinocity (Here in 2024) attracts a new audience, complementary to that of wines and spirits lovers.
Do you think that CSR can become a criterion of choice between establishments as it starts to be, For some consumers, in the purchase of food products ?
People who go to the restaurant most often appreciate that the sourcing of the establishment favors the premises. We feel in the chefs, for ten years, An increasing interest in using local products, I think it's important. We no longer reason today from a notebook of which all the products come from elsewhere. With, in addition, The risk that the plane is lacking ! Working with room takes more and more sense. Even if there are issues related to this : Quality Constance, the regularity of the supply. To work the premises, You have to be able to have the raw material. Beyond the local, I note that the chiefs are more and more sensitive to everything related to CSR. This is to the point that I am currently working on a green trophy project. CSR would be part of the specifications of this trophy which would complete the other trophies of the KasPro guide. Its vocation is to encourage cooks to work in this direction.
"Isn't the race for food innovation. ? » : to this question, Xavier Terlet, food innovation expert, especially SIAL, Interviewed by Leader Réunion, replied : « Non, On the contrary, it is the lack of innovation that tires. »Share this point of view ?
A trend of high gastronomy seeks to create new concepts, It surprises with avant-garde techniques. This was the case, for example, of spherification, The technique of molecular gastronomy which puts liquid preparations in the form of a sphere. These are research and development in gastronomy. This concerns a tiny part of gastronomy, Reserved for an elitist clientele. Paradoxically, We are witnessing a return to the bistro tradition in the kitchen, With single entries, Like Mayonnaise eggs, or classic dishes such as veal blanquette. But this veal blanquette is no longer the same as that of thirty years ago. The veal blanquette as it was used in the past would be considered too heavy, too indigestible, Nowadays. There is innovation : Today's veal blanquette has been reworked with current culinary techniques. She has the same taste, lighter. There is this return of simmered dishes, worked differently.
There is therefore no opposition between tradition and modernity in gastronomy ?
Non. We can perfectly go back to traditional dishes with a modern partition. Simply, The recipe will no longer be the same as thirty years ago.
Are you asked to intervene in schools and in catering and hotel training ?
I have already intervened in schools to talk about my job as a gastronomic journalist, of my kitchen vision, of today's cuisine and its evolution. But as a trainer, non. I am not a teacher and I am careful not to give lessons on the ways of cooking. But I would be delighted to share with young people what I know about this catering job.
What would you say to them ?
It’s a job that makes you dream, But who asks to succeed in a very strong motivation. It is not a job like any other. It requires personal commitment. Cooking is something deeply emotional, for the one who does it as for the one who tastes it. You have to have the will, not only to do well, But to please others. This is the love of cooking. And it's true for all kitchens. I think of school cooking, For example. This kitchen, and those who make it, should benefit from more considerations. The kitchen, It is also a universal passport. With this baggage, You can go to work all over the world. The kitchen opens a lot of doors. It’s a great richness experience. She has her constraints, its requirements, But working conditions have no more relationship with what they were thirty years ago. There is no longer any question of working 70 hours a week ! Yet this image persists. It is largely the cause of the difficulties of restaurateurs to recruit. Young people must understand that dream is one thing and reality, another one. But this reality can be extremely fulfilling.
Vinocity, Maestro's master stroke
Born in 2017, The Maestro event communication and event marketing, B to B event leader, has seen his professionalism confirmed and his notoriety stimulated, Since 2018, by the success of the first Reunionese fair of wine and gastronomy.
A small team for major events. The Maestro agency has had nine people since the recent arrival, as a partner and as an collaborator, from Anaar Mamode alongside the two co -founders Michaël Dionisi and Mathieu Tolu. But the events it organizes can mobilize more than 60 professionals from various trades. The agency plays a role of conductor of tailor-made. “At our place, not an event repeats itself, We do not duplicate any concept ", assures Michaël Dionisi. Maestro is starting a new score today by embarking on an ISO 20121 certification process, The highest event activities. The first in Reunion. "We are embarking on a support of nine to ten months which will transform the agency by structuring it more and leading it to review its practices. ISO is a continuous improvement approach. It guarantees our customers our commitment in the responsibility of our services, both ecologically and human and societal, A very important dimension for us who work subcontractors », explains Michaël Dionisi. “Our level of service will then be equivalent to that of the best metropolitan agencies. »
Des salons B to B
This certification will support the agency's ambition to produce B to B fairs. Also a way of exploiting the know-how acquired in production with Vinocité. There is no shortage of local economic fabric indeed, that can justify unifying events. Themes whose agency already has experience through its services for its business customers. Added to this is the conviction that "the more digital communication is developing, The more the need for physical places where to meet and exchange is felt ”. The economic model remains to be studied, But this project is "in the agency's viewfinder", confirms Michaël Dionisi.
Vinocity, The 3, October 4 and 5, Garden of Eden, La Saline-les-Bains.
