According to CNN, some chefs and food critics have condemned the Michelin star awarding event as seemingly becoming a marketing event, aimed at promoting chefs rather than a culinary celebration.
The fame, prestige and attention that a Michelin star brings can sometimes feel overwhelming to chefs and restaurants. Over the past few years, a number of chefs have handed in their Michelin stars, closed upscale restaurants and embarked on new culinary lives, away from the confines of fine dining.
The stars began to lose their once prestigious shine.
In 2017, French chef Sébastien Bras asked not to appear in the next edition of the Michelin Guide, citing the relentless pressures of maintaining a fine dining restaurant – an issue that is increasingly becoming a concern in the restaurant industry at large.
More recently, in December 2019, Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson closed his two-Michelin-starred restaurant Fäviken, citing fatigue and plans to spend more time with his family.
There have been cases of chefs suing Michelin when they lost a star, or chefs suing Michelin when they won a star, after restaurateurs closed old ventures and opened more casual venues, rather than fancy fine dining spots.
The first 4 restaurants to receive Michelin stars at the Michelin Vietnam Awards Ceremony in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, taking place on the evening of June 6, 2023
In Vietnam, on the evening of June 6, 2023, Michelin Guide announced a list of 103 restaurants in Vietnam that were shortlisted according to three categories: Michelin Selected (Michelin recommended); Michelin Guide Special Awards (special awards) and Bib Gourmand (delicious restaurants at affordable prices), including the first 4 Michelin-starred restaurants in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Immediately after the lists were announced, many mixed opinions appeared on social networks.
Quite a few places appeared in the categories, surprising diners, thinking that these are places that are not attractive to locals, with degraded food quality. Meanwhile, many long-standing restaurants with many local customers are not on the list. In addition, "affordable" restaurants are actually affordable for international guests, but are high compared to the average spending of Vietnamese people.
'Star' story
In 1889, in Clermont-Ferrand, Central France, two brothers, Andre and Edouard Michelin, founded a tire company named after themselves, with a strategic vision for the country's automobile industry at a time when the country had less than 3,000 vehicles.
To encourage people to use their cars more on trips, thereby boosting tire sales, the Michelin brothers created a small guide with useful travel information such as maps, how to change a tire, where to fill up gas, a list of places to eat and stay overnight.
Recognizing the popularity of the restaurant industry, the Michelin brothers began recruiting food critics and in 1926 the Michelin Guide awarded its first stars to the best culinary establishments.
A century on, a Michelin star is still considered one of the most prestigious and exclusive awards a restaurant can receive. There are just over 3,000 Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. Of those, only 132 currently have a three-star rating. While a Michelin star is still highly coveted, it is no longer as highly regarded by the world’s best chefs as it once was.
In 1994, 32-year-old Marco Pierre White became the youngest chef to achieve three stars for his eponymous restaurant.
By 1999, Pierre White had given up his star, leaving the restaurant that had made him a culinary star. Speaking to The Guardian, the chef said: "The reviewers were even less experienced than me. That's why it was easy for me to give up because they were worthless."
Pierre White started a trend that has been gaining traction over the past few decades regarding the controversies surrounding this award.
Take South Korean chef Eo Yun-gwon, who sued Michelin for including his restaurant in its guide, saying he had asked Michelin not to. “The Michelin Guide is an authoritarian system with the most brutal testing and evaluation in the world,” Eo told CNN Travel in 2019. “They require chefs to work and prepare for about a year, waiting for a test without knowing when it will happen.”
Meanwhile, French chef Marc Veyrat, who lost his Michelin star and then lost a lawsuit over Michelin's objection to the decision, echoed Pierre White's sentiments and said Michelin's anonymous inspectors were "incompetent".
“When you have three Michelin stars, you are basically fighting to keep them. You are cooking for three Michelin stars, instead of focusing on your customers, which is actually more important than the stars,” said Emil Minev, culinary arts director at Le Cordon Bleu London.
The stars no longer 'twinkle'
According to Vanity Fair, Spanish chef Julio Biosca returned his restaurant's star because he felt the award was preventing him from innovating. Belgian chef Frederick Dhooge did the same, citing a desire to cook simpler dishes like fried chicken. "The essence of a chef lies in the product, prepared in a classic way and respecting gourmet values and traditions... I want to be free in my kitchen," he wrote in a statement on the restaurant's social media page.
While the Michelin Awards were once considered unique in the restaurant industry, in recent years a plethora of culinary awards and review platforms have emerged for consumers to consider, diminishing Michelin’s influence.
One such award is the World's 50 Best Restaurants, which has published an annual list of the best restaurants since 2002. Unlike Michelin, it does not have a secret voting process. "A top 10 spot on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list can have a bigger impact than holding three stars," writes The Week. The James Beard Awards, on the other hand, have also honored chefs in the US with titles in various categories every year since 1991.
Michelin awards are still a valuable marketing tool, but they are no longer the only source of attention. Chefs and their restaurants, for example, can get just as much, if not more, attention when they appear on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. "There's a point where more and more people are ignoring Michelin. They're looking at the James Beard Awards or Bon Appetit as more meaningful recognition," food writer Eddie Kim told LA Magazine.
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