ONA is the first vegan restaurant in France to receive a Michelin star
Stop the presses, buckle up: for the first time, a vegan restaurant in France has been awarded a Michelin star. In the land of entrecôte and boeuf bourguignon, chef Claire Vallée is conquering a place of honor with her plant-based dishes.
The restaurant ONA — short for origine non-animale — opened five years ago. The menu features exclusively purely plant-based dishes, with ingredients such as sea lettuce, porcini, calamansi and galangal. Even the restaurant’s interior is animal-friendly: no leather chairs, wool carpets or curtains.
Plant-based experiment
In France, vegetables are often seen as a side dish, the decoration on the plate. But something is changing. ‘It’s a new movement in France,’ says chef Claire Vallée. Top chef Alain Passard previously removed meat from his menu, and Alain Ducasse is also putting fewer and fewer meat dishes on his menu. Going fully vegan is another step, says Claire: ‘We want to show that you can eat differently too; it doesn’t always have to be meat.’
Gwendal Poullenec, director of the Michelin Guide: ‘Many people are hesitant; they don’t associate vegan food with a gastronomic experience.’ In his view, ONA’s star encourages other chefs to experiment with plant-based dishes too.
Bank says no
Claire Vallée trained as an archaeologist, but discovered her passion for cooking during a summer job in Switzerland. She worked in various restaurants for years, and at a work-study placement in Thailand she saw the possibilities of plant-based cuisine. When she wanted to open her own restaurant in France, it turned out to be much more difficult than she had expected. Because Claire cooks vegan, traditional banks refused to provide funding. ‘Maybe it would have been different if we had wanted to start in Paris,’ says the chef. ‘But here in the south, everything is a bit more conservative.’ It didn’t stop her: she launched a crowdfunding campaign and raised thousands of euros. Eventually, a ‘green’ bank was willing to take on part of the financing, and eighty volunteers helped build and renovate ONA.
Two stars
And now the crowning achievement: a Michelin star, plus a special green Michelin star because of her sustainable approach. Over the moon? ‘I often wondered whether we were good enough, because vegan cooking is really difficult,’ says Claire. ‘So when the Michelin people called me about the star, I was completely in shock.’
Read also:
- Sergio Herman wins big at the Belgian Michelin awards
- Which hardcore carnivore is pocketing 50K for switching to vegan food?
- At these restaurants you won’t quite get Michelin, but you’ll eat incredibly well
Source: The Guardian, New York Times, photos: Maxime Gautier
