Toquicimes 2025: when Megève reshuffles the cards of mountain cuisine

Do you really have to wait for snow to take an interest in the mountains? In Megève, the answer is clear: no. From October 17 to 19, 2025, the Toquicimes festival returns for an 8th edition that promises to dust off – once again – clichés about Alpine cuisine. Far from caricatured fondues, this free, festive event celebrates a new generation of chefs, sublimated raw produce, and a terroir that inspires as much as it nourishes.

Alpine cuisine liberated at last

Since 2018, Toquicimes has consistently championed a modern, inclusive and committed vision of mountain gastronomy. Echoing the voices of great chefs such as Emmanuel Renaut, Marc Veyrat and Julien Gatillon, the festival takes a step up – literally and figuratively – to promote short circuits, local producers, passionate artisans… and a whole youthful culinary scene determined to shake things up.

This year’s program includes star chefs, demonstrations, crazy competitions, participatory workshops and engaged debates. All in a joyful, popular and never pretentious atmosphere.

Hélène Darroze and Norbert Tarayre: a double-voiced sponsorship

This 2025 edition will have two faces. That ofHélène Darroze, multi-starred chef and ambassador of sincere, elegant cuisine. And Norbert Tarayre, media figure and unrivalled technician, who stands for accessible, embodied gastronomy. Two opposite personalities on paper, but united here by a shared love of Alpine terroir.

Their presence sets the tone: Toquicimes no longer separates the elite from the everyday, the great chefs from the local cooks. Here, everyone shares, cooks and tastes. Together.

A rising generation to watch closely

The 2025 program is a manifesto in itself. Alongside the mainstays, a wave of young talent is shaking up the codes of Savoyard tradition. Among them: Tom Meyer, rising star of La Chèvre d’Or; Danny Khezzar, Top Chef finalist and virtuoso of sensitive dishes; Oscar Meilleur, son of René Meilleur, already well established in local excellence. And some twenty names from Paris, Geneva, Lyon, Val d’Isère, Courchevel…

What they have in common is a no-holds-barred, free-spirited yet rigorous approach, focused as much on transmission as on creation.

Cooking, transmission and know-how on the program

With the launch of the Toquicimes School, this year’s festival goes even further in opening up to the public. Cooking workshops open to all, masterclasses with chefs, demonstrations of technical gestures: the festival becomes a living school, where everyone can learn how to make bread dough rise and how to cook crozets in a different way.

The Groisy Campus and its 200 students are a perfect illustration of this desire to pass on knowledge: bakery, butchery, herbalism, chocolate-making… all the culinary professions are highlighted with passion and teaching.

Competitions that do good

Another key ingredient of the festival: humor and fun. For Toquicimes is also: the delirious “Boxeur de chef”, where a chef, wearing boxing gloves, guides an amateur commis by voice. The Relais Desserts Challenge by Pierre Hermé, this year dedicated to the best Savoy IGP apple tart. The return of Megève’s best fondue competition, a veritable local championship in which restaurateurs compete before a jury of MOFs and Michelin-starred chefs.

Add to this giant tastings, a collective Savoyard mâchon, DJ sets and even an art trail designed by Patrick Rougereau… and you’ve got a total celebration of taste, craftsmanship and shared pleasure.

A manifesto book to extend the experience

The highlight of this year’s event was the release of the book “La Cuisine de Montagne” (Éditions Glénat). This fine publishing project, led by Alexis-Olivier Sbriglio and René Meilleur, compiles 39 traditional recipes from the Alps, reinterpreted by young chefs under the age of 39. A generational transmission, between terroir and modernity, conceived as a testimony as much as a tool.

This book becomes the red thread of the festival. It perfectly embodies Toquicimes’ cultural and heritage mission: to bring Alpine cuisine to life, defend it and help it evolve, without making it static.

Also in Megève during Toquicimes

And because Megève isn’t just about cooking, Toquicimes offers a whole new way to discover the village. Electric mountain bike rides or botanical hikes around culinary plants; visits to the farmers’ market at the Halle Gourmande; shopping in the emblematic grocery stores: L’Épicurie, Le Garde-Manger d’Emmanuel Renaut, or the Biscuiterie artisanale Saint-Agône.

A program that combines gastronomic discovery, local immersion and slow tourism. The anti-festival. The complete experience.

Practical information

• 📍 Location: Megève village center (74)
• 🗓️ Dates: Friday, October 17 to Sunday, October 19, 2025
• 🎟️ Admission: free and open to all
• 📚 La Cuisine de Montagne” book: on sale from October 15, 2025 (Glénat)
• 🌐 Full program and workshop reservations: www.toquicimes.com

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