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Are The Stars Of The Michelin Restaurant Guides Losing Their Shine?

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If we're to believe the wave of “horror” stories published in France and beyond, the Michelin Guide, that French oracle of gastronomy, maker and destroyer of chefs and restaurants around the world with its famous ranking by stars, is losing its relevance as the attacks pile on against the once-revered institution.

The kerfuffle began with an incident that would have been inconceivable in the past. For the second consecutive year, this year's super-secret list of restaurants to be awarded with the coveted stars was leaked a week before the highly-anticipated official publication of Michelin's red guide.

Gilles Pudlowski,  a leading French restaurant critic and, in fact, one of the Michelin judges, not only leaked the list of three-star winners but also blasted the whole system, which he claimed “has lost the plot.” He also slammed the guide's directors for their "bizarre" choices favoring mostly young chefs.

He triggered a firestorm as other critics and chefs joined  the chorus of complaints, some arguing that Michelin has a bias against French cuisine over emerging culinary trends, particularly in London, Japan  and New York, while others argue just the opposite.

What's clear is that Michelin is not pleasing many of them these days.

“Are the French losing their taste for the Michelin guide?” wonders the Daily Telegraph, in one of the most quoted columns about the French culinary scandal. The columnist, William Sitwell, writes that Pudlowski is “just the latest to stick the knife into Michelin,” and remembers how in 2010 there were already leaks “dripped into the press like chanterelle foam speckled round a plate of sea urchin risotto.” That was the year Gordon Ramsay lost stars, while Alain Ducasse won them.

“As ever, it led to much gnashing of teeth,” he remembers. “Those who won them patted their tummies; those who lost wept. Indeed, Gordon Ramsay admitted as much this week when he told a Norwegian chat show that the tears flowed down his face when his New York establishment – Gordon Ramsay at The London – went from two stars to none.”

What seems to be happening is that an increasing number of chefs don’t care about appearing in the guide. “While some chefs simply pledge to win back their stars, and others despair at their non-appearance in the seminal guide, others just ignore it.” writes Sitwell.

He cites legendary chef Marco Pierre White, one of those questioning the relevance and integrity of the Michelin guide.

“When I was a boy, winning a Michelin star was like winning an Oscar," White said. "Today they dish out stars like confetti. What does Michelin mean anymore? Not much. I don’t think Michelin understands what it’s doing itself. It's unhinged.”

In an interview in The Guardian, Pudlowski said his phone hasn't stopped ringing “since the French magazine Le Point divulged that the newest three-star restaurant outside Paris to enter the 2014 guide would be l'Assiette Champenoise, in Reims. Its chef, Arnaud Lallement, 39, offers dishes such as black pork with bacon, foie gras and potatoes.”

Last year, it was also Le Point that leaked Michelin’s secrets. In a column last Monday in that magazine, Pudlowski yearned for the times “when Michelin directors' competence was uncontested.”

The Michelin restaurant guides' international director is an American, Michael Ellis, whose deputy, Juliane Casper, is German. According to The Guardian, Ellis has said he wants to recognize young chefs.

"There's nothing wrong with that," said Pudlowski. "But is that any reason to forget to crown the unchallengeable chefs?”

He asks: "Can't they find any French people to run this guide?" And he revealed that top management rather than the French restaurant inspectors, decided on the stars.