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SITUATED 100km east of the main island of French territory New Caledonia is the archipelago of Iles Loyaute (Loyalty Islands) comprising Lifou, Mare, Ouvea and Tiga. These are islands of great natural beauty – lush, green oases, bordered by soft, white sandy beaches and surrounded by shimmering, crystal-clear azure seas – constituted native reservations, untouched by industry and development, and populated by a people of Melanesian ancestry.
This unique indigenous race (called Kanak after the Polynesian term kanaka meaning human) of the islands is one with rich and ancient customs and beliefs, and a strong sense of identity that has helped keep outside influences at bay. Society is made up of clans or extended families, each with its own totem, legends and chieftain. Families live almost exclusively in huts and barter was their only form of trade.
As monetary incentives do not hold any attraction for the Kanaks, past attempts to introduce industrial development to the islands have met with failure. Even basic amenities like running water and electricity were introduced to the island only in the last three decades. Yet there exists, on Mare, the most advanced kitchen in the world, a state of art facility responsible for the nutritional needs of the island's children.
Mare is a coral atoll measuring 641km2 (roughly the size of Singapore) with a population of just 6,896. The schools on the island are generally housed in huts, many of which comprise simply a roof to shelter the children from the elements. For many years these schools were unable to provide their students with the sustenance that is essential in a learning environment. At best, the most basic of meals were prepared with little thought for hygiene or nutrition. In these conditions it was hardly surprising that the children did not thrive either healthwise or in their studies.
As a result, the local authorities made the decision that Mare's schoolgoing population should be provided with at least one wholesome meal a day. Enter the 2zones² kitchen system, invented by French architect Francois Tesniere. Along with the microwave, ultrasonic washer, induction cooking and disposable packaging, Tesniere's creation has been named one of the five most important innovations in the kitchen, by French food service magazine Neo-Restauration.
According to Tesniere who granted Star Mag an interview during a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur, his kitchen system was chosen by Mare in officials for several reasons. Firstly, its cost fell well within the budget set aside for the project. In addition, the construction and operation of the kitchen would cause little disruption to the island's environment as well as the lives of the island's inhabitants.

The 35-year-old architect spent three months studying the conditions on Mare. "It became clear to me that there was not sufficient workers or materials and equipment to build the kitchen there," recalls Tesniere. This resulted in the decision to construct Mare's kitchen off-site, in fact in France where the entire structure was built into eight 40-foot containers over a period of two months. In the meantime, foundations were laid in Mare. Once the construction of the kitchen was completed, it was fitted with the necessary equipment. The containers were then shipped to Mare and the kitchen was assembled on the ready-and-waiting foundations.

The 2zones2 kitchen has been successfully operational in Mare since February this year (2005). It is a totally user-friendly, labour-, time- and energy-saving system that operates on the principle of a one-way flow of food and work that prevents cross-contamination.
Prior to 1974 the industrial kitchen was a single poly-functional room where all internal operations (storage, cooking, distribution, washing) were carried out. There were no structured organisational protocols to control the standards of hygiene. Since 1974, industrial kitchens have generally been governed by the principle of la marche en avant (marching forward) in which all clean and unclean foodstuffs must never cross paths. While this rule may be practicable in large spaces, it is less so in smaller kitchens where compromises may have to be made. In such cases, HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) guidelines are implemented to, at least in theory, provide for such difficulties. However, these procedures are complicated, inconvenient and impractical. Tesniere believes that they get in the way of the actual process of cooking: "HACCP is a stick for when you have conceived a one-legged person," he illustrates. "The ideal kitchen doesn't need HACCP remedies anymore. HACCP, in Europe, sometimes goes too far."
Tesniere cites the example of the elaborate rules that divide kitchens into zones and restrict kitchen staff to certain areas according to time and colour-codes (indicated by uniforms): "So the cook with the red boots can take corridor No. 12 from right to left between 10 and 10.15 am, and the cooks with the yellow boots must not take this corridor at the same time. It is distracting," he says, "having to remember these rules instead of concentrating on cooking".
"The Kanak cooks were very scared of HACCP," he continues. "Of course we cannot expect the same standard of hygiene from them as from European cooks who receive many years of training. However, it's still very important for the kitchen on Mare to be hygienic especially since it deals with food for children."

Fortunately, anyone using the 2zones2 system will be almost unconsciously maintaining high standards of hygiene thanks to a design of the kitchen. Here the marche en avant principle applies not just to the food process, but also to the trajectories of the food containers, the staff movements and air flow. The kitchen is divided into separate rooms that each deal with a distinct operation: reception of raw products; fragilisation of products (removal of metal or plastic packaging, peeling of vegetables and fruit); transformation of products (cutting, mixing, cooking); distribution of finished products.
The rooms are divided by storage modules with doors on either side. These are the only doors in the kitchen. Therefore, food is allowed to pass through, but not the cooks.
Canals line each room. These can be fitted with stainless steel chopping boards or stainless steel containers in which food can be washed or cooked (with electric heat fed from beneath the unit). After they have been used the chopping boards and containers are simply removed from the canals and washed and disinfected in a high performance potwashing machine.
Strictly monitored streams of filtered and temperature-controlled air are diffused down onto the canal, forcing potential bacterial elements in the opposite direction of the food flow.
Asked what inspired his creation, Tesniere explains, "The kitchen industry, unlike others like transportation or electronics, is very archaic. It seems it has never really evolved. Consultants have been repeating the same designs for ages. The challenge was to invent something totally new – a kitchen space with integrated appliances."
With 2zones², kitchen equipment is, for the first time in the history, not just the furnishing, but also the architectural shell. In short, the walls, ceiling, work surfaces, storage containers, ventilation and lighting, and plumbing is integrated into the design, resulting in a kitchen that is both ergonomic and hygienic.

His enthusiasm for his invention is especially evident when talking about its success in Mare. "The mayor of Mare never asked for the most modern kitchen in the world,” says Tesniere. “He probably had no idea of what a modern kitchen was. He merely asked for a kitchen to provide food to all the children of the island. I worked very hard to integrate the way the Kanaks live in their future kitchen, trying to adapt the equipment to the local products, inventing some new appliances to suit traditional recipes. Mare's kitchen is one of the most high-tech kitchens in the world, but not because of gadgets, just in terms of answering to Maré's specific needs."

The kitchen, which is run in an environmentally conscious manner, using a combination of solar power and recycled energy from the cooling system, currently feeds 1,050 Kanak children using local produce supplied by their own parents. It was important, says Tesniere, to cook using local recipes that the children would be familiar with.
One popular Kanak dish that is prepared uses the meat of the roussette (flying fox), actually the only mammal to exist on the islands before European settlers arrived. Nevertheless, the children will gradually be introduced to new taste sensations, for example dishes using French, Indonesian and Chinese ingredients or recipes. At present, there is an ongoing programme in which Kanak clan matriachs help reproduce traditional Kanak dishes that may no longer be prepared in the home. The children will eventually choose a favourite dish and vote for Granny of the Year.
The Mare kitchen is manned by Kanak cooks. Initial training to run the facility involved head chef Paulo Cimutru travelling to the city of Montargis, in France, where Tesniere's 2zones² kitchen supplies meals to 11 schools. There Cimutru learnt to use the kitchen under the guidance of chef Pierre Silberling who then came to Mare to help with the opening of Mare's kitchen.
So far, there have been no hitches. Work starts at 6am every schoolday. Fragilisation is done a day ahead and the food is cooked and ready by 10am. The nutritious and tasty meals are delivered by van to the schools in time for lunch and the cooks complete their tasks by noon.
The 2zones² kitchen, says Tesniere, shortens the average workday by up to two hours. This has much to do with the fact that it has less surface area than conventional kitchens. This means less cleaning and, consequently, less labour, time, energy and money spent too.

Apart from in Mare and Montargis, the 2zones² system is also implemented in the French town of Cognin where it is installed in an institute for the hearing- impaired, supplying 400 meals to the establishment and 300 meals to local primary schools and kindergartens.
The system is suitable for use in restaurants, hospitals, hotels, army camps and in-flight catering facilities. In the Malaysian context Tesniere says, "In terms of hygiene, (Malaysia) is still far from an international standard. This doesn't mean people get sick every day from eating at a Kopitiam. I don't think I ever got sick eating out in KL but I know for sure that a French (official) in charge of food hygiene would freak out."
He points out that food, without HACCP procedures, is still safe in Malaysia for various reasons including the heavy use of spices which are natural bactericides and the fact that local dishes are generally cooked just before it is served (maintaining freshness).
However, “Malaysia would like to become a destination for health tourism and this won't be possible if the Malaysian government doesn't improve hygiene regulations for kitchens. To reach international standards in hygiene, Malaysia could either follow the European example in applying HACCP procedures, which would be time-consuming, or invest in kitchens with integrated HACCP, just like Maré did.”

By DAPHNE LEE
The Star September 2005