Three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris shifts to plant-based menu
Driven by Chef Alain Passard’s love of nature and commitment to sustainability, the celebrated Paris restaurant now joins a growing list of Michelin-starred venues embracing plant-based cuisine.
Credit: L’Arpège
Paris-based L’Arpège is now serving an almost entirely plant-based menu, a first for any three-Michelin-starred French restaurant.
Founded by Chef Alain Passard in 1986, L’Arpège was awarded three Michelin stars in 1996 and has held them ever since. Passard made headlines in 2001 when he removed red meat from the menu, a radical move in a country celebrated for dishes like steak tartare and boeuf bourguignon. Passard cited both health and animal welfare concerns, telling The Guardian at the time that he can “no longer stand the idea that we humans have turned herbivore ruminants into carnivores. But also, I can't get excited about a lump of barbecue meat. Vegetables are so much more colourful, more perfumed. You can play with the harmony of colours, everything is luminous."
Now, the 68-year-old has made history again by removing almost all of the animal ingredients from L’Arpège’s luxury dining menu, excluding honey, which the restaurant sources from its own beehives.
The decision to switch to plant-based dining was inspired by Passard’s love for nature, with the stronger focus on seasonal vegetables also aiming to lower the restaurant’s environmental impact.
"Today, I'm moving more towards a cuisine of emotion, a cuisine that I could describe as artistic. It's closer to painting and sewing... Today I'm a different chef," he told Reuters.
The restaurant’s new menu, which costs €420 ($485) for the full tasting set, and €260 ($300) for the lunch option, features dishes such as flamed aubergine with melon confit, mesclun praline with roasted almonds, a “mosaic” of tomatoes, melon carpaccio, and a carrot, onion, shallot, and cabbage medley.
“There’s light in this cuisine. There are taste sensations that I’ve never experienced anywhere else,” Passard told AFP. “I still eat a little poultry and fish. But I’m more comfortable with plants. They allow me to learn.”
Michelin guide international director Gwendal Poullennec said that he was “delighted” with the plant-based switch at L’Arpege, calling it a “positive approach.”
“We will continue to follow the evolution of L’Arpege, remaining faithful to our criteria,” he told AFP.
Elsewhere in the world of plant-based luxury dining, Eleven Madison Park became the first vegan restaurant to be awarded three Michelin stars in 2021. The New York fine dining venue retained its prestigious rating after reopening as a plant-based eatery during the pandemic. In the Netherlands, De Nieuwe Winkel’s plant-based menu has received two Michelin stars, while London’s Plates, Seoul’s Légume, Germany’s Seven Swans, and Switzerland’s KLE all have one star.
For more on plant-based dining, listen to a Species Unite podcast episode from the archive where we talk with Alexis Gauthier: the Michelin-starred French chef who went vegan. Listen here.
We Have A Favor To Ask…
Species Unite amplifies well-researched solutions to some of the most abusive animal industries operating today.
At this crucial moment, with worldwide momentum for change building, it’s vital we share these animal-free solutions with the world - and we need your help.
We’re a nonprofit, and so to keep sharing these solutions, we’re relying on you - with your support, we can continue our essential work in growing a powerful community of animal advocates this year.
More stories:
Driven by Chef Alain Passard’s love of nature and commitment to sustainability, the celebrated Paris restaurant now joins a growing list of Michelin-starred venues embracing plant-based cuisine.