It is the fall of the Gods, a myth crumbles with the crash of an earthquake of world gastronomy
One of the temples of haute cuisine perhaps the historic temple of world cuisine the restaurant of Paul Bocuse, one of the most influential chefs of the last century, a veritable giant, who died last year at the age of 91, lost one of the three stars Michelin that had adorned the restaurant's sign for decades. Paul Bocuse had won his first star in 1961, when he took over the reins of the family restaurant “L'auberge du Pont de Collonges” in Lyon. Soon after came the second, and then conquered the third maintained for 50 years an unbeaten and unbeatable record. For having brought prestige to the French gastronomic heritage with his art, he had been awarded by the then president Valery Giscard d'Estaing with the Legion of Honour, the highest award of the French Republic
The severe judges of the famous Red Guide were inflexible: "the quality of the restaurant remains excellent but no longer at the 3-star level". With these brief words, Elizabeth Anselin, director of communication for the Michelin guide's gastronomic and tourist activities, summed up the negative opinion of the inspectors. To tell the truth, some criticisms had been raining down on the restaurant “L'auberge du Pont de Collonges” for some time. Some inspectors had underlined that if "the quality has remained excellent" at the same time, however, "it is no longer at the level of a three-star hotel". Anselin with great detachment, but sharp as a razor blade concluded: "we must be honest with customers, the Michelin guide was created for those who go to restaurants".
The downgrading of the famous restaurant of the father of French cuisine is not the latest in a series of sensational failures. Before Bocuse's restaurant, even more relevant was the Guide's decision to suddenly remove all three Michelin stars from the Araki restaurant, the famous sushi restaurant in Myfair in London. And previously it was the turn of another myth, current this time, of French cuisine Marc Veyrat up to the other year three-starred chef of the Maison des Bois who saw himself downgraded from 3 to 2 stars. Which Veyrat did not digest to the point of calling a group of lawyers to sue the Michelin guide for the damage suffered. But lost cause. And two other famous London restaurants hit by the Michelin cleaver are also mourning: the exclusive Galvin at Windows, inside the Hilton Park Lane, and Benares, an Indian restaurant in Mayfair. Throughout the United Kingdom, 16 stars have fallen. In Italy, the Michelin judges were no less inflexible by subtracting a star from Vissani, the historical icon of Italian haute cuisine, master of many starred chefs, who reacted by giving vent to his somewhat impetuous character: “Michelin is an Italian disgrace, a purely commercial reality”, he denounced. “But at this point, why didn't they take both away from us? Gualtiero Marchesi was right: but by whom are we judged? For them it's a game, not for us."
Talking about Paul Bocuse is equivalent to talking about the history of French and therefore international gastronomy. He came from an ancient family of cooks that dated back to the 50th century and this already says a lot about his culinary DNA. For him, cooking was an authentic reason for living. He entered the quiet and traditionalist French culinary world with an outstretched leg, promoting and innovating cooking methods, combinations and ingredients, giving rise with a group of other French chefs to the phenomenon of nouvelle cuisine. In his lifetime he built an empire valued at over 50 million euros. He was the only chef in the world to have managed to maintain the guide's maximum rating of three stars consecutively for XNUMX years.
Paul Bocuse – 3 Michelin-starred chef – OFFICIAL SITE
And certainly today it is sad to see the heavy rejection of his restaurant. In a statement, the employees of the historic restaurant let it be known that they are "shocked" but determined to protect "the spirit of Monsieur Paul". «It has been 2 years since Monsieur Paul left us – reads the press release – and even if the star does not belong to a chef, it is obvious that everyone is wondering about our future».
It is worth recalling the words French President Macron commented on the death of the great chef last year: “Today the chefs from the Elysée and from all over France are mourning. His name was enough to summarize French gastronomy in its generosity, in its respect for traditions, but also in its inventiveness. The Nouvelle Cuisine of which he was a founding father, sometimes criticized or misunderstood, opened a glorious chapter for French cuisine which today allows it to occupy the first place in the world. Today French gastronomy is losing a mythical figure who has profoundly transformed it”.
