Marcel Duchamps is one of the chefs at the Whateley cafeteria. He studied at L’école de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris, under Fernand Chambrette. He, Chef André and Chef Peter have an ongoing arrangement with Ayla Goodkind. The special treats they make for Ayla are a running comedic thread through all of the Ayla stories, to the extent that Mrs. Carson once gives Ayla a punishment of not having the chefs prepare anything special for a week. Ayla flies him back to France for the 2006 Christmas Break, First Class, Air France, in appreciation of cuisine and friendship.