Live Like a Heroine with Alice Tuyer
Founder of Faubourg Daimant and author of the forthcoming cookbook Saucy, Alice Tuyet shares the rituals, places and life lessons that nourish her creativity, strengthen her resilience and help her stay connected to what truly matters.
For this new edition of Live Like a Heroine, we meet Alice Tuyet, founder of the beloved plant-based restaurants Faubourg Daimant and author of the upcoming cookbook Saucy. From morning journaling and prayer to nutritional yeast, sweet potato "toast" and the life lessons she learned through entrepreneurship and loss, Alice shares the rituals, places and philosophies that help her stay grounded, creative and connected to what matters most.
What changed in you when you opened your first restaurant, and then the second one?
What changed most was moving from a personal commitment to a collective responsibility. Before, I lived my convictions on my own, particularly around animal welfare and veganism. As we opened different venues, I had to bring teams along with me (we are around 60 people today) and suddenly there were people whose livelihoods depended on this project too. It completely changes the way you think about every decision. And beyond the team, there is also the wider collective: all the customers, all the people who walk through our doors every day. Collective commitment became something very real and very tangible.
You're currently writing a cookbook. Tell us about this new adventure.
This book has been such an adventure and a huge joy. In our restaurants, people already discover a 100% plant-based cuisine built around pleasure, sauces, indulgence and glamour, without any militant discourse or moral lesson. Because I don't believe change, whether ecological, ethical in relation to animal suffering, or connected to public health, happens through restriction or punishment. The idea behind the book is to make that experience accessible at home. Saucy has two dimensions. On one hand, there are recipes from our restaurants, simplified and adapted for home cooking. On the other, there are recipes from my everyday life, designed around batch cooking to show that plant-based cooking can be simple and practical. For example, I share the sauces that can save almost any dish, as well as our protein-packed meatballs that can easily become spaghetti and meatballs. Everything has been designed to be prepared ahead of time and assembled easily. Around all of this, there is also an entire universe: inspirations, fashion, aesthetics and the way we build a cuisine that is both sensory and practical. I wanted Saucy to be a cookbook that isn't really a cookbook. I wanted to infuse it with soul.
What are you obsessed with right now?
My current obsession is letting go of certain things. For a long time, I operated through constant optimisation: endless lists, reporting, tracking my workouts, food and routines, with boxes to tick every day, first in Excel and later in Notion. Since losing my father, whom I was incredibly close to, a year ago, I have decided to release the things that were no longer serving me. Today, I try to keep the discipline while letting go of control. Discipline liberates. Control traps. That shift has changed a lot about the way I live and create. I think it also comes from my background in classical ballet, a discipline that can be beautiful, but also suffocating when it turns into rigidity.
“Because I don't believe change, whether ecological, ethical in relation to animal suffering, or connected to public health, happens through restriction or punishment. The idea behind the book is to make that experience accessible at home.”
What is the wellness habit that truly transformed your energy and that people underestimate?
Writing every morning. It changed my life. When I don't have much time, I write for five minutes. Otherwise, I write for thirty to forty-five minutes. It's a space where I can tell myself my own story, reflect on it, question it without judgement and examine concepts more deeply. It helps me understand why I reacted a certain way, why I felt anger at a specific moment, and prevents me from falling into the same patterns again. It has become my daily way of reconnecting with myself. During difficult periods of sadness, it was also an anchor that helped me gain perspective and ultimately see the whole human experience with a sense of humour. That realization comes when you understand how small we are in the universe and how many of our daily knots are simply illusions.
What is your non-negotiable ritual?
Meditating or praying every day. You can call it whatever you like. I spend ten to twenty minutes every morning, and sometimes in the evening too. It's a very simple, direct and silent moment of reconnection with God and with the divine part that lives within all of us. A way to recenter myself and reconnect to something greater than myself, to feel carried by life, its magic and that powerful feeling of love.
“I try to keep the discipline while letting go of control. Discipline liberates. Control traps.”
The supplement or ingredient you absolutely can’t live without?
Nutritional yeast. I put it on everything: salads, roasted vegetables, pretty much anything. It's such a simple ingredient, yet incredibly powerful. It adds umami, flavour and B vitamins. I discovered it in the United States and ever since, I always make sure I have some at home in Paris.
What’s your most effective low-effort, high-impact habit over the long term?
I gave up the all-or-nothing approach to exercise. Today, my principle is simple: every day, I move. There is no minimum duration and no specific activity required. It can be five minutes, ten minutes or a proper workout. The pressure to perform perfectly is gone. That's what makes the habit sustainable. Movement becomes a foundation rather than an impossible goal.
What is a practice most people would find surprising?
Before every meal, I say a short blessing, either out loud or silently. It's a prayer written by my friend Sarra. It's a very simple gesture, but it brings awareness back into the act of eating. A way to express gratitude and not take that moment for granted.
“Before every meal, I say a short blessing, either out loud or silently. (...) It's a very simple gesture, but it brings awareness back into the act of eating.”
Where does your love of painting come from?
Painting has been part of my life since childhood. I am self-taught, just like I am in cooking. What fascinates me is the language of colours, shapes and especially the emotions they create. Painting allows me to express things I can't formulate any other way. In that sense, it's actually very similar to cooking.
Where do you truly reconnect and reset?
Water. Always. A bath, the sea, a swimming pool, whenever I am in water, something completely relaxes and calms my nervous system. I spend a lot of time in my head, so anything that brings me back into my body helps immensely. I genuinely feel like I enter another dimension. Fortunately for the planet, I don't have a bathtub at home, so it's rare, which also makes it precious. But don't put me in an ice bath, I absolutely hate the cold.
Your current beauty and wellness destination?
I regularly see Laure from Bell'en Plume for lymphatic drainage treatments. For more than three years, she has helped me develop an entirely different relationship with my body. I spend a lot of time on my feet and sleep very little, so inflammation and water retention can quickly become an issue. She helps restore balance, softness in the tissues and healthy circulation. I go once a month for maintenance and sometimes weekly as part of a treatment series, especially before intense periods or important projects like my cookbook. Her touch is incredibly precise and unique.
A place you return to again and again?
The Rodin Museum, in Paris. It's a place that reconnects me with something greater than myself. There is a sense of beauty and presence there that feels deeply nourishing. I always leave feeling happier and more creative. Honestly, it is worth hours of therapy or treatments.
What have you kept from your younger self?
My ability to dream. As a child, I spent a lot of time in my imagination, looking at the sky and inventing possible lives in my head because I wasn't very happy. That capacity is still very much alive today. Even when things are difficult, I keep believing that new possibilities can emerge, that other paths exist. I love dreaming my life and then bringing those dreams into reality every day. I am deeply moved by how far I have come, and I know I can still go so much further.
At what moment of the day do you feel your strongest and most aligned?
Very early in the morning, between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. It's a unique moment that combines power and calm. I am highly efficient, very clear-minded, yet completely free of agitation. It's when I do my best thinking. There is also something slightly secret about those hours, as though they were borrowed from the rest of the world.
Your feel-good recipe to make at home?
Replacing bread with sweet potato. I slice sweet potatoes lengthwise into one-centimetre thick pieces and roast them in the oven at 200°C with a drizzle of olive oil. They become the perfect base for toppings. You can add avocado, hummus, roasted vegetables or savoury yoghurt with raw vegetables. It's like toast, but more nourishing, easier to digest and naturally gluten-free.
What are your three rules for life?
First: love, love, love. Which means doing everything possible to reduce unnecessary suffering around you. Second: never confuse what you do with who you are. You are neither your successes nor your failures. I remind myself of this even when things go well. Third: protect your inner flame and keep moving forward, especially when things get difficult. Because results do not come to the most talented people. They come to those who refuse to give up.