Marco Pierre White Slams Michelin

By Claire Miller

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Michelin stars Gordon ramsay Michelin

Marco Pierre White Slams Michelin
French celebrity chef - who was the youngest cook to ever be awarded three Michelin stars - questions the red books relevance and ability to judge restaurants in the modern world.

MARCO​ Pierre White has attacked the Michelin guide, throwing his weight into the on-going debate about the book`s relevance and ability to rate restaurants around the modern world.

The red book is probably the most revered restaurant guide in the world, with the top chefs scrabbling for stars, and the likes of Gordon Ramsay explicitly detailing aims for their restaurants in terms of Michelin recognition.

White, who famously was the youngest chef ever to be awarded 3 Michelin stars, renounced his stars in 1999 and has now claimed that Michelin fails to use the same standards around the world.

He says in an interview in April’s Waitrose Food Illustrated: "I`ve dined in Michelin-starred places in New York and I`m confused.

"There are at least 50 restaurants in England as good as the two-star restaurants over there – rather than the paltry 10 that currently hold that number."

The 108-year-old book was also criticised by chefs in Tokyo, Paris, South Africa and New York.

The guide is labelled ‘inconsistent’, is accused of completely missing the shift in focus from fussy haute cuisine towards valuing provenance, ethics and simpler food, and despite it’s lack of modernisation is also said to have lost touch with it’s founder’s vision - of finding a good meal on the road - for the sake of commercial gain.

Michelin director Jean-Luc Naret told the magazine: "Let the readers be the judges. Chefs are, broadly speaking, supportive of our judgments."

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