He has the physique for the job.
Timothée Martin even likes to joke about it: profession?
“
Fitness model
,”
he boasts on his Instagram bio.
1m98 and 140 kilos, we understand why he only travels by tractor.
“I play a little too, it's true... It's either you're whining because your pants are too small and you're getting in trouble, or you're making it your strength!”
So facing the camera, this influencer from rural France puts on his apron to grill a rib of beef over a wood fire, between two videos on baking bread and picking mushrooms.
Is French meat better than that imported from elsewhere?
We just want to believe it but Timothée Martin proves it, fork in hand, tasting
“a real rib of beef”
, a Basque beret screwed on his head in an exposed stone living room which smells of the cottage of our country.
A bit cliché?
The videographer passionate about French gastronomy is aware of this, but his channel
“Le grand Gaulois”
is not content to serve images of Epinal cut with an ax on a solid wood cutting board;
Timothée Martin dissects them and overcomes them in the light of the only science that ultimately interests him: that of taste.
So with the precautions of a fine gourmet, meticulous as an oenologist would taste a great vintage, he explains to his subscribers the gastronomic virtues of his butcher's piece.
“I was introduced to another vision of breeding
,” explains to Le
Figaro
this Nantes resident who had first dreamed of becoming a farmer.
“In France, we are mainly interested in two conventional breeds,
the Charolaise
and the Limousine, which are the pride of our breeders because they are pure breeds renowned throughout the world.”
His intuition is iconoclastic:
“these breeds have been selected for their hypertrophy of muscle mass, they are animals which produce a lot of meat, like also the Blonde d'Aquitaine or the Parthenaise.
But what makes meat taste first is whether it is fatty and tender.
The best way to achieve this is to crossbreed, but this idea is still a bit taboo..."
Upset breeder
After a BTS in viticulture and training as a breeder in a chamber of agriculture, Timothée Martin would have liked to create his farm, but his bold views on cattle species cooled the banks.
Due to lack of loans, he was hired as an agricultural employee on a large organic farm.
“It was ethical, free-range breeding, but too oversized for me, it didn’t correspond to what I wanted to do, I ended up leaving.”
From the meadow to the plate, there is only one step, quickly taken.
Also read “Enjoy”: the stroll of the bon vivants on TMC
In 2018, he joined the Gueuleton restaurant chain, which is already on the rise.
Contacts are increasing with breeders, franchise requests are soaring and the famous
“Tournebroche”
, a range of caterers specializing in spit-roasted meat for wedding cocktails, are becoming known all over France.
The great Gaul embarked on the adventure and created his business in the North-West.
“At Gueuleton, there was a philosophy of product and terroirs, it was a community of lovers of good meat more than a simple chain of caterers.”
Timothée Martin spends five years in the kitchen, reproducing with the young waiters who follow him in his project a form of a small scout troop, inspired by the memory of his camp years under the tent.
“My years of scouting made me want to take an interest in food: we learn to do well with few resources, and we observe nature: today, that's all I like to do! »
In less than two months, 100,000 Internet users subscribed to his Instagram channel.
Brigitte Delibes - @brigittedelibesphotographie
Then caught up in his passion for amateur video, Timothée Martin branched out a little and created his channel on Instagram and TikTok.
It’s a pantagruelian detour through all the market stalls.
Snails, oysters, chestnuts... In less than two months, 100,000 Internet users subscribe.
Immediate recognition, which takes him by surprise.
“I didn’t expect to reach so many people so quickly!”
It is the countryside in all its finery that he reveals without shame, including his most atypical passions - bow hunting, falconry...
“Good things take time”
“Kids now watch videos in spades, I told myself that we had to be present on these new media to give people a taste for beautiful and good things
. ”
And the people who make them: in a series of videos published on the occasion of the farmers' angry movement, Timothée takes up the cause of the French peasantry and attempts to pedagogically decipher their discomfort.
“I also try to convey some messages in my videos. On TikTok, those who watch me are not even 18 years old... so when I explain to them that to properly mature a cheese it sometimes takes three years, it must be funny to them! And I'm not even talking about the aging of a good wine... It must be said again how good things sometimes take time. We can't have everything right away..."
Also read: Which cooking method should be preferred for prime rib?
He does not need to be encouraged to engage without delay in the contemporary nostalgia for a rural golden age, as much regretted as fantasized.
“People want to come back and live in the countryside, we get tired of an entirely artificial society…”
So obviously, we tickle him a little.
After all, the virtual reconstitution of terroirs and know-how, through Instagram filters boosted by the algorithms of the major platforms, is it really more authentic?
“It’s true that social networks also convey a kind of idealized vision.
But I don't stage anything.
I show my daily lifestyle, what I like to eat, the producers I buy from... What I film is accessible to everyone as long as you are curious !”
And greedy, therefore.
On the menu for his next videos: honey, foie gras, taxidermy... Obélix had better watch out.
“What has made my videos successful is also that I teach people to do it themselves: make their own bread, soon I will show how to make their own butter…”
On this subject, here: how do we make money when you're a YouTuber?
“I clearly don’t make my living on social networks... I won’t do that for long, I will quickly return to a more concrete job
,” he assures.
“Only by showing your butt can you make money on Instagram
. ”
Thank you for sparing us that, indeed, Timothée.