there is life without michelin stars in hospitality

The working life of a chef who receives a Michelin star changes completely after this prestigious award.

Effort, sacrifice, work … All this is rewarded with this precious award. This coveted award, the most valued in gastronomy, is always a source of joy and gratitude, but many cooks cannot cope with the pressure and end up giving it up. Why is this happening?

As a general rule, chefs who receive a Michelin star are under a lot of pressure and are inspected every two or three times a year (they do not always know when it will be, it usually takes them by surprise). This means that each dish that is displayed is thoroughly questioned.

The obsession to have it all in the hospitality industry

Cooks fight day after day to be recognized and rewarded for their work. Obtaining these stars means having a very high bar in your haute cuisine restaurant, that is, not everything is gold that glitters, but it translates into daily stress to be able to rise to the occasion.

It is clear that the excellence and fame that comes with achieving a Michelin star come at a price and it is not easy to follow this pace of work constantly.

Every year an exam is held daily in which the chef risks everything and can cause losses and criticism from gastronomy experts.

Chefs who have waived the prestigious award

Some are chefs from this country, as well as from other parts of the world, who have decided to renounce Michelin stars, and all of them do so for the same reason: the pressure with which they cook and to be constantly alert and evaluated.

In 2008, in Spain, the chef Joan Borràs, chef of the Hostal Sant Salvador in the Vall de Biana (Girona), gave his star after overcoming cancer, for “take life in another waya. The Michelin star is total slavery“.

In this same year, the French Olivier Roellinger closed his restaurant Cancale, considering that at 53 years old, he no longer had “the physical conditions necessary to continue behind the stove“.

Later he was the French chef Sebastien Bras who gave up his Michelin stars to feel less pressure in his restaurant Le Suquet. According to his words:

“I want to cook without having to think about whether the creations please the inspectors or not. I want to continue serenely, without tension“.

Returning to our country, another chef who renounced this prestigious award is Julio Biosca, owner of Casa Julio, a restaurant in a small Valencian town of approximately 1000 inhabitants, Fontanars dels Alforins. In 2007, he asked the Guide to withdraw this award,

“the problem is not the guide, but the world that has been generated around“.

As in all sectors, not all that glitters is gold. It is not easy to maintain a high gastronomic level, everything has to go smoothly and, sometimes, life and its changes do not allow it.

Although the Michelin star remains the award to which practically all chefs aspire, there are brave chefs who decide to be more free and decide their cuisine for themselves, because they know that it can attract the public of the area, not only the gastronomic critics of the Michelin Guide.