Green star,

an award for virtuous gastronomy

The Michelin green star, now in its second year, recognises the achievements of chefs in the vanguard of sustainable and responsible approaches to gastronomy. Introducing our region’s two award-winners.

Locally sourced products, terraces draped in vegetation, vegetable gardens, compost, products with no packaging, seasonal foods, products gathered in nature, micro-filtered water… green-star chefs did all this and more. Thirty-three chefs received the distinction this year, which was “attributed regardless of the standing of the restaurant, from one bib gourmand to three stars”, as Gwendal Poullennec, national director for Guides Michelin explained. We are proud of our region, so we naturally met with the two chefs in Provence who obtained this new type of star this year. Our first stop was the Château de Berne, and more precisely the kitchens of its gourmet restaurant. Surrounded by nature and its emblematic vineyard, the domain personifies the art de vivre of Provence and inspires chef Louis Rameau, who regales patrons with a cuisine based on local, seasonal products and the vegetables and herbs in his organic vegetable garden. 

The cuisine of the 32-year-old chef is instinctive, and guided by the product of the day. Rameau finds his green star comforting, as it recognises his local approach. “The incredible range of products that my region has to offer is immensely helpful in my efforts to go local. Salt- and fresh-water fish, incredible meats from Provence’s ranches, and my latest find—eggs laid by free-range quail! My region has it all.” Louis Rameau’s dishes are nourished by the people he has met and the places he has seen. “I learn from nature by following the seasons. I try to do as well as nature, or if possible better, but that is a tough order”, he says. His hope for the future is that young people go back to working the land with all the respect it deserves.

Seasonal and local
With its cosy garden chock-full of rare, fragrant plants, La Mirande offers a nature-filled pause in an urban location. The setting inspires Florent Pietravalle, chef at this famous Avignon restaurant. Pietravalle assures us that today his cuisine is based on a belief in seasons and proximity. “Cooking a product when it arrives at the height of its tastiness… that is true luxury for a chef! As is looking for a new product and finding it—for example, this crushed linden leaf from Mont Ventoux whose taste he hastens to magnify in a dessert! “I encounter a food and together we tell a story.” For Florent Pietravalle, this award recognises La Mirande’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint as much as possible. Coffee grounds go to the mushroom farm in the hotel’s basement and compost is given to the farmers who supply the restaurant’s kitchen, for example. “I like this movement that stimulating chefs of my generation. We are becoming ambassadors for virtuous cuisine.”

Le Jardin de Berne
Château de Berne
83780 Flayosc

La Mirande
4 place de l’Amirande
84000 Avignon