France’s Michelin Guide for restaurants awarded its prestigious stars to top chefs at an annual ceremony on Monday, defending its decision to maintain the awards, which critics say can make or break a chef’s career, at a time health restrictions are forcing restaurants to close, reports Radio France Internationale.
The awards for the 2021 Michelin Guide for France were based on reviews of restaurants that have spent much of the past year completely closed by some of Europe’s strictest lockdown measures.
French restaurants were closed for all but take-away from mid March to early May last year and faced growing restrictions through the summer and autumn that left them closed nationwide by late October.
The guide said its anonymous reviews were squeezed into a reduced six-month period between lockdowns.
“It’s an important decision to support the profession despite the context, and maybe even because of the context. It was necessary to maintain these announcements,” Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the guides told AFP news agency.
“It’s an occasion to shine a spotlight on all these talents, to encourage them and to keep restaurant patrons motivated” until the crisis ends, he said.
Michelin’s decision to go ahead with the annual awards with the same criteria as any other year put it at odds with some of its counterparts.
Britain’s 50 Best cancelled its awards outright, while France’s Gault&Millau considered innovation and solidarity in their awards and La Liste gave awards based on how chefs adapted to the restrictions.
Restaurant critic Emmanuel Rubin questioned whether the restrictions means there even needed to be a 2021 edition of the Michelin Guide, which he criticised for “the opacity of the method and conditions” of anonymous reviews in newspaper Le Figaro.
Poullennec said reviewers cancelled summer holidays in order to work on the guide between lockdowns.