Bordeaux (AFP)
Chef Claire Vallée on Monday won the first Michelin star granted in France to a vegan restaurant, ONA in Arès (Gironde), a consecration for this establishment that she set up in 2016 thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, without conventional bank loans .
"I was warned Thursday evening by the Michelin Guide and there it is as if a train had passed over me. I do not realize ...", assured AFP the young forty-something.
"I was not in it at all, I was making a cooking recipe for a radio subject and I was told over the phone by video that I have a star ... And today, we learn in addition, we also have a green star. Two at once is a lot! "
ONA, for "Non Animal Origin", is "the first starred vegan restaurant in France," a spokesperson for the Michelin guide told AFP.
The green star, introduced last year, rewards establishments for their eco-responsible approach.
On her gourmet menu, 7 dishes that she offered before closing due to the health crisis, Claire Vallée notably created "fir, porcini, sake" or "celery, tonka and amber beer" associations.
"It's a lot of emotion, for us, friends, family, our suppliers, customers and the ants who worked to create this restaurant" in Arès, commune of the Bassin d'Arcachon, she explains. .
"The ants are the 80 or so volunteers who helped us work on the restaurant for two months in 2016."
Initially, ONA was launched via a crowdfunding campaign and helped by honor loans and an ethical bank (La Nef), explains the head, because traditional banks did not believe in the project.
"But this is not revenge. Everyone does their job ...", she said.
At the time, "I was told that there was not enough perspective on vegan, vegetal, gastronomy in the Basin and also the location I had chosen in Arès".
"I knew I had a few strings to my bow," she adds.
"Like what, nothing is impossible."
After a Michelin fork won in 2018, the star, "we were aiming for it, but not aiming it", says Claire Vallée.
"We wanted to be among the best, I know starred (chefs) and I wondered if we had the level because the plant is complicated, it's innovative ... We were in something completely different but which remains accessible to all and which remains from the kitchen. As long as you take pleasure in it, that is the essential. "
Does she feel like a pioneer?
the conductor replies that she simply wanted to follow in the footsteps of those who had started down this path before her, such as "Jean-Christian Jury, who died last year and who had La Mano Verde in Berlin".
© 2021 AFP