Michelin Guide celebrates 'resilient' French cuisine, but wants more women

Launching its 2022 edition, the Michelin Guide celebrated an increasingly green and diverse French food scene, as well as its resilience after emerging from two difficult years of pandemic.

French chefs Arnaud Donckele and Dimitri Droisneau, and Dimitri's wife Marielle Droisneau, celebrate after being awarded a third Michelin star. © AFP/Philippe Lopez

Expected each year with apprehension by chefs and gourmet food lovers, the famous red book revealed this year's winners in Cognac in south-western France – the first time in its 122 years the ceremony has taken place outside Paris.

Two restaurants were awarded its highest distinction of three stars.

Arnaud Donckele, 44, known for his extraordinary sauces, shot straight to the top ranking for his new restaurant Plenitude in the Samaritaine department store in Paris.

Husband-and-wife team Dimitri and Marielle Droisneau also joined the top rank for their Mediterranean restaurant, La Villa Madie, in Cassis, near Marseille, which judges praised for its "poetic home-style cuisine".

Le chef de la Villa Madie à #Cassis, Dimitri Droisneau, et le chef de Plénitude - Cheval Blanc Paris, Arnaud Donckele obtiennent tous les deux la distinction suprême du Guide MICHELIN : 3 étoiles.#GuideMICHELINFR #MICHELINStar22

— Le guide MICHELIN (@guideMichelinFR) March 22, 2022

"With 49 restaurants promoted this year, included two three-star restaurants, we see that it is more than just resilience – that the French gastronomic scene is showing incredible vitality and creative power," said the guide's director Gwendal Poullennec.

"2021 was another difficult year for restaurants. The impact of the pandemic continues to weigh on them. Prices for ingredients are rising enormously, and recruiting and keeping staff is a challenge for everyone," he added.

"Despite everything, we have a great selection, but I see that we have too few women," he said, calling on restaurants to continue the "profound changes" they have been making to improve the imbalance.

Green star restaurants

Much focus in recent years has been on more minimalist, sustainably sourced cooking, which the guide has been rewarding with "green stars" since 2020.

There are now 87 green star restaurants in France, with six new additions in the new guide.

Last year's ceremony, in the midst of a months-long shutdown caused by the pandemic, was a low-key affair with only one chef – Alexandre Mazzia – promoted to three stars.

But this year marked a rejuvenation, with a maskless crowd packing out the theatre in Cognac, a small town in western France, with a huge international reputation for its namesake spirit.

Created in 1900 by tyre manufacturers Andre and Edouard Michelin as a guide for motorists, it now has editions across Europe, Asia, North and South America.

In March, it announced it was suspending operations in Russia due to the war in Ukraine, just a few months after launching its first guide in Moscow.

(with AFP)