Posted on 02/26/2003 6:37:00 AM PST by dead
France's top chefs railed against the pressures of their job and the power of the critics after one of this food-obsessed country's culinary giants committed suicide, apparently because of a bad review.
Bernard Loiseau, 52, whose restaurant and inn La Cote d'Or in Burgundy is one of the undisputed temples of Gallic haute cuisine, was found dead in his bedroom on Monday, his hunting rifle by his side.
"He tried to do too much," said his wife, Dominique. "He was worn out; he'd just had enough."
Others were harsher. Mr Loiseau, they pointed out, had managed to retain his priceless three stars in the Michelin Red Guide, but lost a devastating two points in France's rival foodie bible, GaultMillau, falling from 19/20 last year to 17/20 in the 2003 guide.
"Bravo, GaultMillau, you've won," declared the legendary Lyons chef Paul Bocuse, 80. "Your verdict has cost a man's life. We cannot let ourselves be manipulated like this: I'll give you a star, I'll take one away; I'll award you two points, I'll deduct them. The profession will respond."
Another tri-stellar restaurateur, Jacques Lameloise, said Mr Loiseau had once told him that if he lost a star he would commit suicide. "The critics play with us," he said. "They mark us up, they mark us down. I think that's what made him crack."
Amid public outcry and blanket media coverage of the tragedy, government ministers queued to express their regrets, and the managing director of GaultMillau, Patrick Mayenobe, was forced on TV to say his publication could not be blamed for Mr Loiseau's death.
"It's not one point or one star less that kills," he said. "This was a great chef who most certainly had other worries. In 2000 he said that if he went from 19 to 17 points he'd relish the challenge of returning to the peak."
Mr Loiseau, who said he wanted to be to haute cuisine what Pele was to soccer, was a self-made man. He took over at La Cote d'Or in 1972, picking up his first Michelin star in 1977 and his second in 1981. He bought the old coaching inn the following year.
His lightness of touch, perfectionism and endless quest for the most exceptional of ingredients earned him the ultimate accolade of three Michelin stars in 1991.
The Cote d'Or became a luxury inn, a line of pre-cooked foods was launched, three restaurants were opened in Paris, and in 1998 he became the world's first chef to obtain a stockmarket listing.
Marc Veyrat, who this year became the first man to be awarded 20/20 by GaultMillau, said chefs at this level were "like fragile little boys, under pressure from all sides: from ourselves, to do better every time; from the public; and then, when we've reached the summit, from the guides and the critics, swords of Damocles hanging over our heads ... because for us, where we are now, there's only one way to go".
Does that include McDonalds?
Maybe crappy food prepared by really lousy chefs in France can be called "least delicious."
"Least delicious" food would probably go well with France's antifreeze-enhanced wine.
So the loss of two GaultMillau points at his flagship Cote d'Or restaurant in Saulieu, Burgundy, would certainly have worried him financially. Perhaps more important, though, was the psychological blow. Chef after chef has queued up since Loiseau's death to denounce the cruelty of a system that toys with reputations, careers and lives for reasons that are at best opaque and at worse thoroughly arbitrary.
"It's terrible," said Guy Martin, chef at the three-star Grand Vefour in Paris. "They tell you you're one of the very best and then, overnight, they tell you you're not. Why? What have you done? How can the skills you've developed, the creativity you've nurtured, the time and energy you've invested, disappear from one day to the next?"
For men who see themselves as both artists and craftsmen, being subject to such cold, impersonal and pitiless verdicts - all too often based on factors such as a guide's desire not to give too many stars to one region of France, punish a chef thought to be getting to big for his boots, or reward a promising youngster in a culinary desert - can be almost unbearable. link
For all this boo-hooing, I don't believe it occurred to any of the chefs that maybe the downgrading of Loiseau's rating was deserved. Heaven forbid anyone get the grade he deserves, self-esteem being more important than anything.
"It's not one point or one star less that kills," he said. "This was a great chef who most certainly had other worries. In 2000 he said that if he went from 19 to 17 points he'd relish the challenge of returning to the peak."
It seems possible that rather than rating the food based on the food, they may have wanted to see what would happen if they did drop his rating from 19 to 17.
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