Michelin adds symbol rewarding sustainable restaurants to guide

Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox

Deputy Editor

The Michelin Guide will now include a symbol to recognise sustainable restaurants, with the first roll-out printed in the French edition for 2020.

Chefs deemed to "have taken responsibility by preserving resources and embracing biodiversity, reducing food waste and reducing the consumption of non-renewable energy,” will now be recognised by the guide, following on the introduction of its sustainability award - of which Loam chef owner Enda McEvoy was the first recipient in the UK and Ireland 2020 guide.

All restaurants already featured for having one or several stars, a Bib Gourmand or a Michelin Plate will have the opportunity to be decorated with the additional badge.

The new accolade was included in the French Michelin guide for 2020, with more than 50 restaurants, including three Michelin-starred Mirazur, headed by chef Mauro Colagreco, whose produce is grown by his own team according to the principles of permaculture.

Additionally, "David Toutain's collaborations with environmentally conscious producers and craftsmen, and Bertrand Grébaut's bio-waste recycling program at one-starred Septime,” were deemed worthy of the new clover.

“Faced with constantly evolving challenges including production methods, sourcing and waste management, chefs are striving to improve their practices,” Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide, said in a statement, adding that “often, these initiatives combine the best of the knowledge of our predecessors with the creativity and innovation of chefs who are never short of ideas.

"The ambition of our approach is to amplify the scope of the good and ingenious practices of chefs by putting them in the spotlight. The ideas, methods and know-how developed by these chefs will thus help raise awareness of an entire sector to its customers and the general population.”

All future editions of the guide, in all its geographical locations, will include the clover symbol as well as a quote from the spotlighted chef.

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