Master French chef Paul Bocuse has died at the age of 91, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb announced Saturday.

Bocuse was dubbed the "pope" of French cuisine and gave birth to the idea of the celebrity chef after he helped shake up the food world in the 1970s. He was at the forefront of the Nouvelle Cuisine revolution, sweeping away the rich and heavy sauces of the past in favor of fresh ingredients and sleek aesthetics that favored good health.

"Monsieur Paul was France. The pope of gourmets has left us," tweeted Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, announcing the chef's passing.

"He was one of the greatest figures of French gastronomy, the General Charles de Gaulle of cuisine," said French food critic Francois Simon, comparing him to France's wartime savior and dominant postwar leader.

Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron also paid homage to the great gastronome.

"Chefs weep in their kitchens at the Elysée Palace and everywhere else in France. French cuisine will continue to make him proud."

Bocuse was born in 1926 to a family of cooks dating back to 1765. He began his apprenticeship at the age of 16 and came to symbolize a certain type of French epicurean — a lover of fine wine, food and women.

Nothing beats butter

The heart of his empire was L'Auberge de Collonges au Mont D'Or, his father's village inn just north of Lyon. The bistro earned its third Michelin star in 1965, and never lost one.

"Monsieur Paul," as he was known, was twice named "chef of the century," first by a Michelin rival guide, the Gault-Millau, in 1989 and then again in 2011 by The Culinary Institute of America.  

Read more: Bocuse's 90th birthday

His imposing physical stature, combined with a larger-than-life personality, matched his bold dreams and his sprawling accomplishments.

He could have settled for being a renowned chef with a prized bistro, but he chose to extend his culinary skills into an array of food operations ranging from haute cuisine to fast food that spanned the world.

Bocuse slept in the same room where he was born, but managed to maintain a relationship with his wife, Raymonde, and at least two lovers.

"I love women and we live too long these days to spend one's entire life with just one," Bocuse told the Daily Telegraph in 2005.

As for food preparation, Bocuse said that many things go into great cooking but that his favorite ingredient was butter.

"(It's a) magical product," he said during a visit to the Culinary Institute of America. "Nothing replaces butter."

Read more: Bocuse's truffle soup

bik/rc (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)