The Michelin Guide will unveil its new list for France’s Michelin Starred Restaurants in a week. The Michelin Guide will award a Green Star to restaurateurs who have made environmental commitments. We look at some of France’s green initiatives two years after this award was created.
Cooking at night using low-energy LEDs
La Botte-et-Cher’s La Botte-d’Asperges is where chef Stphane bureau has redesigned its kitchens to show his respect for the environment. He has also made efforts to avoid unnecessary packaging, unnecessary travel, and visited his market gardeners personally to collect the latest harvest. The chef has also installed low-energy LED lighting over his stove tops. Chef Bureau has also installed a nighttime cooking system in order to reduce the amount of energy used during the day. This is a great solution for slow-cooked dishes and uses less energy.
Raw and low-temperature cooking
Sbastien Piniello is the chef of two new restaurants in Chteau Malrom, a Bordeaux region restaurant where Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec used to frequent. He has made a decision to cook raw vegetables or to cook them at a lower temperature (not exceeding 83C). This preserves the nutrients and doesn’t require too much energy.
Chicken keeping
Emmanuel Renaut, a triple-starred chef from Les Flocons de Sel, Megve has created a henhouse in which nearly 50 hens can be fed grain. The birds can freely roam the entire field and have plenty of space to enjoy. The hotel-restaurant also keeps its own eggs. These eggs are used in pastries, cakes, and other dishes.
Composting and dehydrating organic waste
Julien Lemari uses Japanese flavors in his dishes. He only uses ingredients that were grown within 100 km of his Rennes restaurants, Ima, and Imayoko. The Michelin Green Star holder since last year, Lemari buys whole animals and shares the carcasses to other chefs in Brittany. Furthermore, he uses the leftovers and trimmings to make sauces and broths. Other waste is dehydrated, then made into compost and given to farmers to fertilize their fields. The Chteau de Cadie in Chambry also makes compost from organic waste from the preparation and cooking of dishes. This is then used by the chef to set up a vegetable garden on the castle grounds.
More eco-friendly and sustainable tableware
Julien Lemari, the chef at Ima restaurant in Rennes, is demonstrating environmental responsibility in his choice of tableware. Cyril Dennery has created enamels made from oyster powder and shells. Further south, L’Oustau de Baumanire is a three-starred restaurant that draws on the expertise and skills of local craftspeople. The glasses are made by glass blowers from Cristallerie d’Art in Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, while the ceramist Ccile Cayrol makes the crockery. You can find some of her creations in the boutique.
Use beeswax wrap to preserve food
Christophe Aribert, the chef of Isre’s two-starred gastronomic restaurant, has completely banned plastics from his establishment. The restaurateur uses beeswax wrap and glass jars for storing raw materials to preserve food. Michelin awarded him a Green Star to acknowledge his commitment to environmental preservation.
Brangre Chatelain
