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Did you notice the green pictogram that debuted at the latest Michelin Guide France? If you missed it, we don’t blame you.
On January 27 at the Michelin Guide France 2020 ceremony, a ‘green clover’ was given out to some 50 restaurants in the selection, officially launching the Guide’s new sustainable gastronomy icon.
Not to be confused with the Michelin Green Guide (Michelin’s series of travel guides), the sustainability clover acknowledges the restaurants with “commendable environmental practices”, and is a complimentary accolade available to those included in the Guide with any level of distinction, from Michelin’s Plate or Bib Gourmand or 1, 2 or 3 stars.
Commenting on this new initiative, Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Guides, said: “The ambition of our approach is to amplify the scope of the good and ingenious practices of chefs by putting them in the spotlight. The ideas, methods and know-how developed by these chefs will thus help raise awareness of an entire sector to its customers and the general population.”
At the moment the distinction of the green clover is not available as a filter on the Michelin Guide’s restaurant search function, which may be disappointing to some diners who consider sustainability a more important deciding factor in choosing a restaurant.
The sustainability issue is not an entirely new thing for Michelin though. The Guide had started last year already with a 'soft' introduction to the criteria, handing out specific Sustainability Awards to recognise chefs across several destinations rated by the guide.
It is the hot topic in the industry and chefs all over the world are bringing increasingly innovative and creative methods to the management of restaurants that are better for the environment. It's difficult to name one industry gathering in recent years that hasn't discussed this pertinent topic, and Michelin's move to create a distinct 'icon' takes it down the right path in addressing what is quite possibly the most important subject matter on our planet right now.
Who knows - maybe one day the sustainable kitchen might become mandatory criteria in a Michelin inspector’s guidelines, rather than being a form of special recognition.
Who are the first chefs to be given the sustainability stamp of approval?
Here’s the full list of the restaurants of Michelin Guide France 2020 acknowledged with the green clover:
Le Clos des Sens, Laurent Petit
Mirazur , Mauro Colagreco
Arpège, Alain Passard
Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenée, Romain Meder
Troisgros-Le Bois sans Feuilles, Michel et César Troisgros
Régis et Jacques Marcon, Jacques Marcon
Yoann Conte, Yoann Conte
L'Oustau de Baumanière, Glenn Viel
La Bastide de Capelongue, Edouard Loubet
David Toutain, David Toutain
Le Coquillage, Hugo Roellinger
Serge Vieira, Serge Vieira
La Marine, Alexandre Couillon
La Maison d'à Côté, Christophe Hay
La Grenouillère, Alexandre Gauthier
Christopher Coutanceau, Christopher Coutanceau
Jean Sulpice, Jean Sulpice
Hostellerie Jérôme, Bruno Cirino
Maison Aribert, Christophe Aribert
La Chassagnette, Armand Arnal
Cyril Attrazic, Cyril Attrazic
Auberge du Vert Mont, Florent Ladeyn
L'Etang du Moulin, Jacques Barnachon
Le Prince Noir-Vivien Durand, Vivien Durand
Hostellerie Bérard, Jean-François Bérard
G.A. Au Manoir de Rétival, David Goerne
Fontevraud Le Restaurant, Thibaut Ruggeri
L'Oustalet, Laurent Deconinck
Le Clair de la Plume, Julien Allano
L'Alchémille, Jérôme Jaegle
Auberge La Fenière, Reine et Nadia Sammut
Prairial, Gaëton Gentil
Le George, Simone Zanoni
Septime, Bertrand Grébaut
Table, Bruno Verjus
Le Petit Hôtel du Grand Large, Hervé Bourdon
Ursus, Clément Bouvier
Aux Terrasses, Jean-Michel Carrette
Äponem-Auberge du Presbytère, Amélie Darvas
L'Or Q'idée, Naoelle D'Hainaut
Le Moulin de Léré, Frédéric Molina
Le Bec au Cauchois, Pierre Caillet
Pertica, Guillaume Foucault
Le Tilleul de Sully, Thierry Parat
Ar Men Du, Philippe Emmanuelli
Caves Madeleine, Martial Blanchon
Le Saltimbanque, Sébastien Porquet
La Table d'Hôte , Thomas Collomb
Le Garde Champêtre, Gil Nogueira
Anona, Thibaut Spiwack
