French vegan restaurant becomes first to win Michelin star

Restaurateur in south-west France 'felt like I'd been hit by a train' when told

A selection of healthy vegan food, including fruit vegetables, tofu and beans. Getty Images

A vegan restaurant in the French south-west won a Michelin Guide star on Monday, the first for an establishment serving only animal-free products in France.

Claire Vallee runs the ONA restaurant in the city of Ares, near Bordeaux, which she launched in 2016 thanks to crowdfunding from supporters and a loan from a green bank.

"It felt like I got hit by a train," Vallee told AFP about the moment she received a call from the Guide Michelin on Thursday, January 14, informing her of its decision.

She also won a green star, which Michelin introduced last year to reward establishments with a strong record for ethical practices.

ONA, which stands for "Origine Non Animale" ("Animal-free origin"), is "the first vegan restaurant in France to win a star", a Guide Michelin spokeswoman said.

Vallee offered seven dishes on her gourmet menu before she had to close ONA because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Her favourite combinations involve pine, boletus mushroom and sake, or celery, tonka and amber ale.

Traditional French banks gave the young chef short shrift when she asked for a loan to get started.

"They said the outlook for veganism and plant-based food was too uncertain," she said.

The chosen location for her restaurant in the Arcachon basin on the Atlantic coast was also not considered to be promising enough.

Vallee says she holds no grudge: "Everybody does their job."

Confident "that I had a few things going for me", she went on to secure financing through crowdfunding, without the need for collateral, and through La Nef, a bank that specialises in lending for projects it considers to be ethical.

"This goes to show that nothing is impossible," she said.

Vallee admits to having wondered along the way "whether we were good enough because vegetable-based cooking is difficult and innovative".

But, she said: "The most important thing is to enjoy doing this."

Although now considered a pioneer for vegan cuisine in France, Vallee said she followed in the footsteps of others, singling out the late Jean-Christian Jury, who ran the La Mano Verde restaurant in Berlin.