Paris (AFP)

Despite a disastrous year for the world of gastronomy, the French chef Hélène Darroze has achieved a feat: to go from three to five Michelin stars, becoming the second woman most awarded by the Red Guide, thanks to a cuisine "more emotional than technical ".

Known to the general public for her appearances in the TV program "Top Chef", Hélène Darroze, 53, reached the peaks of world gastronomy in early January by obtaining a third star for her London restaurant "Hélène Darroze at The Connaught" and a second for "Marsan", his Parisian establishment.

A feat so far only achieved by another woman: her compatriot Anne-Sophie Pic, eight stars on the clock.

Another woman to have been distinguished this year, her friend the Briton Clare Smyth, from the restaurant "Core", crowned with a third star.

An unprecedented award in the history of the Michelin guide and also a sign that the world of gastronomy, long associated with men, is changing.

To this sign, Hélène Darroze adds a message: "Continue to live your passion as a woman", "do not try to be someone other than a woman", she insists during an interview granted to AFP.

- "Different sensitivity" -

"We have a different sensibility, it must be seen on the plate," says the one who claims feminine cuisine, "more emotional than technical".

"When a man cooks, he first wants to show that he knows how to do this, that, while a woman, I have the impression that she simply wants to please (...)", explains- she, while adding that she does not seek to criticize the men whose work she "respects".

At the Darroze, cooking is a family affair.

In 1895, her great-grandfather opened "Le Relais", a family restaurant in Villeneuve-de-Marsan where she worked and which she renamed "Chez Darroze".

However, it is towards business studies that she headed after her baccalaureate.

It was the famous chef Alain Ducasse who finally convinced her to get started while she was working in his famous restaurant "Louis XV" in Monte-Carlo.

It was the beginning of twenty years during which she admits having had to make "choices": "I could not be a mother until 40 years old because before I had chosen to give myself fully for this profession", says- she, referring to the adoption of her two daughters.

In 2001, she obtained her first star, then, two years later, her second.

His trademark?

A generous cuisine, recognizable by its influences from the cuisine of the Southwest and Basque.

In 2015, it was the consecration: she was named "best woman chef in the world" in the annual ranking 50 Best.

- Do not call him "chef" -

"I have colleagues who have suffered from being women in more male circles (...) I have always found my place," she says.

In the kitchens, she imposes her vision of the profession.

"I never wanted to be called chef," she explains.

"I might explain to them that it is not with a title that we make ourselves respected, there are always some who do not succeed and say to me: + I cannot +".

Another revolution, she refuses to raise her voice or shout at her employees during "shots" in the kitchen.

"When there is a problem you have to know how to contain that stress. It is not by shouting or throwing a spoon that you solve a problem."

Despite a catastrophic year for gastronomy, marked by the closure of restaurants due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hélène Darroze assures him: "the pandemic has changed the way of seeing things".

From now on, for example, she refuses to use Chinese caviar, "to reach out to French producers who suffer more than us".

If the pandemic is far from over, Hélène Darroze has already started to imagine the cuisine of the "world of tomorrow": "we will need a cuisine that reassures, greedy", she outlines.

© 2021 AFP