Pie in the Sky: Parisians Pay High Price to Eat on Table Hanging in Sky
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}For five days in Paris, those with a few extra hundred dollars in their pockets can enjoy the best of French cuisine while seated 50 yards up in the sky.
From Friday to Tuesday, a French lifestyle and gourmet food magazine is sponsoring lunches and dinners prepared by Paris' most elite chefs. For $1,350 a person, guests can eat perched above the Tuileries Gardens with a stellar view of the city.
The event is not only about luxury dining — $146 for every customer goes to France's Federation of Rare Diseases, which funds research into unknown diseases.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This event shows the human dimension of French chefs, and we are very thankful for their generosity," said the federation's president, Marie-Christine Louppe.
The 12 chefs taking part represent the city's best dining establishments, and will prepare a total of 550 meals for the project.
Meurice Hotel head chef Yannick Alleno said he planned a meal of white salmon, veal with truffles and cake.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We are promoting French cuisine at an international level," he said.
So how do the diners get to eat in the sky?
A large metal table seating 22 people is secured to a platform and suspended by metal cords from a glass roof that is connected to a crane. The moving crane slowly lifts the table into the air. The guests are strapped into large, cushioned black chairs not unlike those of a roller coaster. Two chandeliers and large lights hang from the roof.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I have worked in this park for 28 years, and I have never seen anything like this," said Lansana Goudiaby, 52, who works for a cleaning company that is helping out at the event. "It's wonderful ... it's important that we have progress like this."