1, 2 or 3 Stars: The Michelin Guide & The Definition Of France

You see him in automobile shops the world over. That bulbous white man made of of tires, the symbol of the Michelin tire company. But what can he possibly have to do with gourmet restaurants, maps, and the definition of France?

To find out we have to go back to the very end of the 19th century, and the very beginning of the automobile age. In 1900 there were fewer than 3000 cars in France and a pair of French brothers were anxious to sell more automobile tires. In the centre of the country, in Clermont-Ferrand, André and Édouard Michelin had begun making rubber tires just in time to get in on the auto craze. But, ten years later, they cast about for a way to increase sales.

The young men decided an automotive guide might boost driving, tire use and, hence, tire replacement. The first editions listed practical advice about where to get gas, repairs and tires; where to stay, a handful of restaurants, and a few maps in case you got lost. At first the brothers Michelin gave the guides away for free – until the day they saw a stack of their guides being used to prop up a work table in a garage. After that they began to charge for the Michelin guide.

In the following years the Michelin brothers began to distinguish superior restaurants with a star (in French, a macaron) next to their listing in the guide. Soon the best of these were marked with two stars and, eventually, three.

I don’t imagine the Michelin brothers conceived their guide would still be around 114 years later and that many a chef would either be tearing out their hair or popping champagne based on the results. As the e-mag BoldRide writes, “There is no other distinction for a restaurant that’s more prestigious. Not Zagat. Not the New York Times, not Yelp. Nothing compares to the Michelin star.” In other words, your movie might win the Chicago Critics award, but if it doesn’t get an Oscar nobody remembers it.

I’ve been on the websites of many, many Michelin-starred chefs and find a recurrent theme – the chef knew he wanted to be a chef since he was knee high to a grasshopper. Why is that? Why do the French put so much value on food and on quality time spent at the table?

Maybe it’s the influence of the Michelin Guide. You have to remember that the France we think of today – with its Eiffel Tower, emphasis on gastronomy and wine, and luxury products like champagne and fashion – really didn’t begin until the onset of the Belle Epoque, a period that lasted from about 1880 to the eve of World War I. Exactly the time that the brothers Michelin began printing their guides.

Before then, up the the middle of the 19th century at least, France is better thought of as a collection of villages and towns where local people rarely travelled more than a few kilometres from where they were born. What we now call “France” was essentially “Paris”.

But then a change began. Suddenly, it seemed, France had a middle-class, le bourgeois, and they were hungry for luxury goods, foods , travel and experiences. It was the Belle Epoque when the first Metro line was built, the first department store opened, the Eiffel Tower first reached for the sky, the first sparkling brasseries were opened, and the first Michelin Guide printed. There was abroad in the land excitement, history, and passion; and it can be argued that the Michelin Guide contributed to the making of the France we know today.

Michelin Guide Field Notes

1900: 35,000 copies are printed. The first guide contains maps and general motoring information about car repairs and a list of mechanics.

1909: The first English-language edition of the Michelin guide is published.

1914–1918: The guide suspends publication during the Great War.

1926: The star is introduced to signal a fine dining establishment. Initially there is only a single star.

1931: The hierarchy of one, two and three stars is introduced. The cover of the guide is changed from blue to red and has remained so ever since.

1936: The criteria for the three starred rankings are published.

1939: Michelin ceases publication at the beginning of World War II.

1944: The Allied Forces requests that the 1939 guide be specially reprinted for military use as its maps are judged to be the most accurate.

May 16, 1945: A week after VE Day, the publication of the annual guide is resumed.

1939–1950: During and after the war, Michelin suspends the third star “because of the difficulty in procuring quality ingredients.’’

1965: Paul Bocuse of Lyon is awarded three stars, the first outside of Paris, and has maintained them since. The other two restaurants that have held three stars for at least 40 years are Auberge de l'Ill, south of Strasbourg, and Troisgros, in Roanne.

1989: Alain Ducasse receives three stars, making him was the first salaried chef (rather than a chef-proprietor) to obtain the distinction.

1996: Tour d’Argent loses its third star, a title they held for 51 years. It now as only one star.

2007: Taillevent loses a star, ending its reign as the longest-running Parisian restaurant to hold three stars.

2008: Anne-Sophie Pic, then 37, the chef at her namesake restaurant, is only the third woman to have won a third star and the first since 1968. (Her grandfather earned his third star in 1934 and her father garnered the same rating in 1973 at the restaurant.)

2014: There are 27 three-star restaurants in France, 79 two stars and 504 one-star restaurants.