The new edition of the French food bible, The Michelin Guide has just been released, the results announced to much controversy as usual.
Food has always been synomous with all things French – to the French la cuisine is an artform. And if food is art, Le Guide is the omnipotent arbitrator of high art, but herein lies the problem. If only high art is recognised, what happens to the new dadaesque arrivals on the scene? Questions are being asked. Has the Michelin become an out of date relic that perpetuates tradition and refuses to embrace change?
Relic or not, the Michelin is still the top-selling guide in France, and an international publishing success story. 400,000 are sold in France per year and over a million in Europe and the results have enormous repercussions, financial and otherwise. Since the shocking suicide of French celebrity chef Bernard Loiseau on the eve of Michelin publication in 2003, there is even more seriousness attached to this Guide that can make or break a restaurant or chef. There are only 26 elite restaurants in France given three stars, 65 two stars and 436 one stars.
This year there was a breakthrough of sorts in this macho world of the French cooking elite. A woman made it into the highly select boys club – 37 year old Anne-Sophie Pic, the chef of Pic in Valence, became the only woman in France to hold this honour. She is the fourth woman ever to receive this distinction in France since Marguerite Bise paved the way, all the way back in 1951.
Five new restaurants gained the trois macarons including Frédéric Anton (le Pré Catelan), Yannick Alleno (Le Meurice) and Pascal Barbot (L’Astrance). With the inclusion of Anne-Sophie Pic, this group has formed a rat-pack of younger chefs, all ranging in age from between 34 and 42. Refuting another criticism, that it awarded luxury and decor over quality on the plate, L’Astrance, a tiny establisment with 25 places and a team of only 14, was one of the Guide’s more surprising selections.
While there has been a few changes, there is growing criticism directed at the Guide. A few years ago Chef Alain Senderens announced he would return his three stars to the Michelin Guide, opening a new venture with more freedom and less stress. And Joël Robuchon was previously quoted saying he didn’t want his two Paris restaurants, L’Atelier and La Table, to be rated in the Michelin Guide because his venues ‘didn’t match the outdated luxury criteria required by Michelin’. Ironically L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon has one star and La Table de Joël Robuchon and now Joël Robuchon Monte-Carlo both have two stars.
While the Michelin does include 489 ‘Bib Gourmands’ (reflecting quality for price) it’s clear it still hasn’t come as far as it could. Le Figaro’s restaurant critic François Simon said Michelin has perpetuated the macho world of French gastronomy for too long, and has remained incapable of integrating foreign food. “The Michelin Guide was born in the 20th century and it’s stuck in the 20th century. It’s like an old woman who stands in the street muttering: no-one listens any more.”
The new style of restaurants which are causing so much excitement in France, Les Bistrots Gourmands continue to be vetoed by the Michelin. Parisians can’t get enough of these restaurants which serve up delectable food from renowned chefs, who are not obsessed with obtaining the Michelin star. The chefs at the helm have taken the discipline and rigor of their three-star training and applied it to smaller, simpler restaurants with a relaxed atmosphere. The food here is of high-quality using seasonal produce but it’s affordable.
Le Comptoir de l’Odéon represents this new form of bistrot, and it was markedly absent from this year’s guide. The chef at the helm, Yves Camdeborde thinks the future of haute gastronomie in France is to render it ‘simple and human’ and while Michelin has marginalised his restaurant he respects the Guide’s importance while saying it needs to respond to the changing times and listen to what people want. To see what people want you have to do to look at the three-month waiting list for Camdeborde’s restaurant.
Le Fooding is also synomous with this contemporary food movement, playfully anti the three-star mentality. For Le Fooding (food+feeling) the restaurants they review or award are all about the soul and pleasure of eating. On their site they say if a restaurant gets a Michelin star, they’re asking themselves the wrong questions: ‘Where is the best place to eat, Spain or France? Does Jean-François Piège deserve a third star? Should fusion cuisine be denounced? …Bon appétit!’
French cuisine has come a long way since 1900 when Le Michelin was first published as a guide for French motorists. It’s reviewers continue to be anonomous and its classification system remains the same with a three-star rating meaning “exceptional cuisine, worth a journey”, and two star listed as “excellent cooking, worth a detour.”
In the land of tradition some things are hard to change. While still respected, clearly old dame Michelin’s style is becoming rather passé. The nouveau bistrots have taken the world of Paris dining by storm, and it’s time Le Michelin welcomed the new kids on the block…
