Forbes India – Environment and Restaurants, Plastic: Michelin Green Star – How French Chefs Take Action For The Environment

Stphane Bureau is the chef at La Botte d’Asperges. He cooks his slow-cooked meals at night to reduce carbon emissions in France.
Image: la Botte d’Asperges / Agence Catherine Barrier / photo Guillaume Le Baube

IThe Michelin Guide will unveil its new list for France’s Michelin Starred Restaurants in less than a week. The Michelin Guide, a French food guide, will recognize restaurateurs who have made efforts to reduce their business’ environmental impact by giving them a Green Star. We look at some of France’s green initiatives two years after this award was created.

Low-energy LEDs and cooking at night

Chef Stphane Bureau, from France’s Loir-et-Cher, has redesigned La Botte d’Asperges’ kitchens to promote his environmental commitment. He has also made efforts to avoid unnecessary packaging, unnecessary travel, and visited his market gardeners personally to collect the latest harvest. The chef also installed low-energy LED lighting over his stove tops. Chef Bureau also created a nighttime cooking program to reduce energy consumption during the day. This is a great solution for slow-cooked dishes and uses less energy.

Raw and low-temperature cooking

Sbastien Piniello, the chef of two new restaurants in the Bordeaux region, Chteau Malrom, where Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was once a frequent visitor, has decided to cook raw or at least vegetables at a lower temperature than 83C. This preserves nutrients and doesn’t take too much energy.

Chicken keeping

Emmanuel Renaut, a triple-starred chef from Les Flocons de Sel, Megve has set up a henhouse in which nearly 50 hens can be fed grain. The birds are able to roam freely and enjoy the whole field. The hotel-restaurant has its own egg production, which is used for breakfast and in pastries, cakes, etc.

Dehydrating and composting organic material

Julien Lemari, a Rennes chef, uses ingredients that are less than 100 kilometers from his restaurants, Ima or Imayoko. Since last year, the Michelin Green Star chef buys whole animals and shares them with other chefs in Brittany. He also prepares sauces, broths, and other dishes with the trimmings and scraps. Other waste is dehydrated, then made into compost and given to farmers to fertilize their fields. Compost is also made in Chambry at the Chteau De Candie from organic waste that has been generated during the preparation of meals. This is then used to create the vegetable garden that the chef has set up on the castle grounds.

More eco-friendly tableware

Julien Lemari, a Rennes chef, has made a conscious effort to reduce the environmental impact of Ima’s tableware selections. Cyril Dennery has created enamels made from oyster powder and shells. Further south, L’Oustau de Baumanire, a famous restaurant with three stars, is located in Les Baux-de-Provence. It draws on the skills of local artisans. The glasses are made by glass blowers from Cristallerie d’Art in Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, while the ceramist Ccile Cayrol makes the crockery. The boutique at the hotel stocks some of her creations.

For food preservation, use beeswax wrap

Christophe Aribert, a chef from Isre who lends his name and restaurant a two-starred Michelin star, has banned the use of plastic in his establishment. For food preservation, the restaurateur uses beeswax wrap and glass jars for storing raw materials. Michelin awarded him a Green Star to acknowledge his commitment to environmental preservation.