Burned-out French chef gives back Michelin stars

[Toliver]

"Burned-out French chef gives back Michelin stars"

Quote

A chef in southern France with three Michelin stars says he wants to be stripped of the distinction because of the "huge pressure" to dish up flawless fare each day.

Sebastien Bras's Le Suquet restaurant in the village of Laguiole joined the elite club of French three-star restaurants, which currently number 27, in 1999.

On Wednesday the 46-year-old said he wanted to be dropped from the 2018 edition of the Michelin Guide to "start a new chapter".

While winning the coveted distinction had been "a source of a lot of satisfaction", maintaining its exacting standards had also put him under "huge pressure", he told AFP.

It's happened before (as mentioned in the article). 

So how commonplace is this stress to maintain the stars? It's be interesting to find out if all the other starred restaurants share in this peculiar "misery".

[KennethT]

If I remember correctly, Bernard Loiseau - in France, committed suicide supposedly because of the pressure of keeping his 3 stars amid changing trends and tastes.

[Tri2Cook]

Marco Pierre White gave his back* before it was the cool thing to do... 

*You can't actually "give them back"... the most you can do is proclaim them unimportant to you and not strive to maintain them. Which is what he did.

[Anna N]

23 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Marco Pierre White gave his back* before it was the cool thing to do... 

*You can't actually "give them back"... the most you can do is proclaim them unimportant to you and not strive to maintain them. Which is what he did.

I cannot imagine the stress of being "on" day after day, week after week, year after year.  It's one thing to try and maintain a level of perfection but it's entirely another to realize that the smallest slip could have such immense consequences as losing a star (in a world where such things matter).  

[Thanks for the Crepes]

13 hours ago, KennethT said:

If I remember correctly, Bernard Loiseau - in France, committed suicide supposedly because of the pressure of keeping his 3 stars amid changing trends and tastes.

 

Well, I'm extremely glad to hear that Sebastien Bras found a way to deal with the stress that was much more healthy than this sad tale of Bernard Loiseau and Benoît Violier in "The New Yorker". So, you do not fail in your memory @KennethT. Good Lord! What a brutal business. Amazing, but sort of inhuman (inhumane?). Beautiful dreams can turn into nightmares so quickly, can't they?

[rotuts]

there is a flip side , of sorts , to the pressure discussed above

 

Im willing to suggest that the personality type  ( in this case Chef ) thrives ( of sorts ) on this pressure to begin with.

 

those that cut the mustard succeed and some don't.

 

some might enjoy and thrive under this pressure  

 

consider :  Race car drivers , 220 ++ mph for 2.5 hours where a sneeze at the wrong time might be catastrophic

 

Fighter Pilots landing on an aircraft carrier in rough seas at night ?

 

fortunately ive found my level :   Pulling a Cork in the late afternoon.

 

P.S.:

 

I found this quote insightful :

 

"  he would continue to dazzle diners' palates "without wondering whether my creations will appeal to Michelin's inspectors". "

 

Ive added thee bold italics 

 

inspectors are one thing , diners another.

Edited September 21, 2017 by rotuts (log)