Bernard Loiseau
Encyclopedia
Bernard Loiseau was a French
chef
. He committed suicide by firearm in 2003 when newspaper reports hinted that his restaurant might lose its 3-star
status.
, in the Auvergne
region of central France
. He decided to become a chef as a teenager, apprenticing at the famous La Maison Troisgros run by the brothers Jean and Pierre Troisgros in Roanne
between 1968 and 1971.
Claude Verger at La Barrière de Clichy, and was soon hailed as a prodigy by the Gault Millau
guide, a proponent of the nouvelle cuisine
style that emphasized lightness and freshness in contrast to the cuisine classique
of traditional French
gastronomy
. When Verger bought the formerly prestigious La Côte d'Or of Saulieu
in 1975, he installed Loiseau as chef and soon stood aside to allow him to develop a highly personal style of cuisine
. Loiseau bought La Côte d'Or from Verger in 1982, and the well known Michelin Guide
bestowed the coveted 3-star rating on his establishment in 1991. His fanatic attention to detail, frenetic work ethic
and discerning palate propelled him to the top of his profession and earned him a knowledgeable and loyal but unforgiving and demanding clientele.
Bernard Loiseau established Bernard Loiseau SA in 1998, and was the first star restaurateur to establish the concept of having one's restaurant incorporated and traded. At the time of his death, he was the only French chef traded on the stock exchange. Under Bernard Loiseau SA, Loiseau published numerous books, established a line of frozen foods, and opened three eateries in Paris, in addition to running La Côte d'Or and its adjoining boutique shop.
The French government awarded him its highest honour, the decorations of Chevalier (Knight) de la Légion d'honneur
in 1994, Chevalier (Knight) de l'Ordre national du Mérite
in 1986, Officier (Officer) de l'Ordre national du Mérite
in 2002 and Chevalier du Mérite agricole
.
" swept France, catering to an international corporate class and pleasing trend-driven "foodies" (a neologism of the movement), which Loiseau resisted. The prevailing notion, however, was that the pre-eminent Loiseau's grip was slipping — that his cuisine and philosophy were being superseded by newer trends. He was by this time deeply in debt, and suffered from bouts of increasingly severe clinical depression
.
Loiseau committed suicide
on February 24, 2003, shooting himself in the mouth with his shotgun
after a full day of work in his kitchen. The Gault Millau
guide had recently downgraded his restaurant from 19/20 to 17/20, and there were also rumors in Le Figaro
that the Michelin Guide
was planning to remove one of La Côte d'Or's three stars.
Loiseau had made a life's ambition of becoming a 3-star chef, a goal which had required 17 years of hard work at La Côte d'Or to achieve. After his death, three-star chef Jacques Lameloise
said Loiseau had once confided, "If I lose a star, I'll kill myself".
A few weeks before his death, Loiseau was notified by Michelin that he would keep his third star. Nevertheless, the food writer Francois Simon wrote in Le Figaro that Loiseau and his third star were "living on borrowed time."
As of 2007, La Côte d'Or, now in the hands of executive chef Patrick Bertron, is still a three-star establishment, due much to the efforts of Loiseau and his second wife Dominique.
has its roots in Loiseau's life story. La Côte d'Or was one of the restaurants visited by Brad Bird
and others in France.
French cuisine
French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...
chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
. He committed suicide by firearm in 2003 when newspaper reports hinted that his restaurant might lose its 3-star
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
status.
Early life
Loiseau was born in ChamalièresChamalières
Chamalières is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.Chamalières is the third-largest town in the department and lies about from Lyon.-History:...
, in the Auvergne
Auvergne (région)
Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...
region of central France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He decided to become a chef as a teenager, apprenticing at the famous La Maison Troisgros run by the brothers Jean and Pierre Troisgros in Roanne
Roanne
Roanne is a commune in the Loire department in central France.It is located northwest of Lyon on the Loire River.-Economy:...
between 1968 and 1971.
Career
In 1972, Loiseau began working for restaurateurRestaurateur
A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of the restaurant business.-Etymology:The word...
Claude Verger at La Barrière de Clichy, and was soon hailed as a prodigy by the Gault Millau
Gault Millau
Gault et Millau is one of the most influential French restaurant guides founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965. Gault Millau is most famous for its rating system, on a scale of 1 to 20. Restaurants below 10 points are almost never listed...
guide, a proponent of the nouvelle cuisine
Nouvelle Cuisine
Nouvelle cuisine is an approach to cooking and food presentation used in French cuisine. By contrast with cuisine classique, an older form of French haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and an increased emphasis on presentation.-History:The term...
style that emphasized lightness and freshness in contrast to the cuisine classique
Cuisine classique
Cuisine classique is a style of French cookery based on the works of Auguste Escoffier. These were simplifications and refinements of the early work of Antoine Carême, Jules Gouffé and Urbain François Dubois. It was practised in the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe and elsewhere for much of...
of traditional French
French cuisine
French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...
gastronomy
Gastronomy
Gastronomy is the art or science of food eating. Also, it can be defined as the study of food and culture, with a particular focus on gourmet cuisine...
. When Verger bought the formerly prestigious La Côte d'Or of Saulieu
Saulieu
Saulieu is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in the Burgundy region in eastern France.Capital of the Morvan, and found in the Morvan Regional Park, Saulieu is located to the southeast of Paris on the RN6 road.-History:...
in 1975, he installed Loiseau as chef and soon stood aside to allow him to develop a highly personal style of cuisine
Cuisine
Cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific culture. Cuisines are often named after the geographic areas or regions that they originate from...
. Loiseau bought La Côte d'Or from Verger in 1982, and the well known Michelin Guide
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
bestowed the coveted 3-star rating on his establishment in 1991. His fanatic attention to detail, frenetic work ethic
Work ethic
Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. An example would be the Protestant work ethic...
and discerning palate propelled him to the top of his profession and earned him a knowledgeable and loyal but unforgiving and demanding clientele.
Bernard Loiseau established Bernard Loiseau SA in 1998, and was the first star restaurateur to establish the concept of having one's restaurant incorporated and traded. At the time of his death, he was the only French chef traded on the stock exchange. Under Bernard Loiseau SA, Loiseau published numerous books, established a line of frozen foods, and opened three eateries in Paris, in addition to running La Côte d'Or and its adjoining boutique shop.
The French government awarded him its highest honour, the decorations of Chevalier (Knight) de la Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
in 1994, Chevalier (Knight) de l'Ordre national du Mérite
Ordre National du Mérite
The Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...
in 1986, Officier (Officer) de l'Ordre national du Mérite
Ordre National du Mérite
The Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...
in 2002 and Chevalier du Mérite agricole
Mérite agricole
The Ordre National du Mérite Agricole is an order of merit established in France on 7 July 1883 by Minister of Agriculture Jules Méline to reward services to agriculture...
.
Death
In the late 1990s, a new form of Asian-inspired "fusion cuisineFusion cuisine
Fusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not being categorized per any one particular cuisine style, and can pertain to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s.-Categories and types:...
" swept France, catering to an international corporate class and pleasing trend-driven "foodies" (a neologism of the movement), which Loiseau resisted. The prevailing notion, however, was that the pre-eminent Loiseau's grip was slipping — that his cuisine and philosophy were being superseded by newer trends. He was by this time deeply in debt, and suffered from bouts of increasingly severe clinical depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
.
Loiseau committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
on February 24, 2003, shooting himself in the mouth with his shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
after a full day of work in his kitchen. The Gault Millau
Gault Millau
Gault et Millau is one of the most influential French restaurant guides founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965. Gault Millau is most famous for its rating system, on a scale of 1 to 20. Restaurants below 10 points are almost never listed...
guide had recently downgraded his restaurant from 19/20 to 17/20, and there were also rumors in Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
that the Michelin Guide
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
was planning to remove one of La Côte d'Or's three stars.
Loiseau had made a life's ambition of becoming a 3-star chef, a goal which had required 17 years of hard work at La Côte d'Or to achieve. After his death, three-star chef Jacques Lameloise
Jacques Lameloise
Jacques Lameloise is chef de cuisine at the French restaurant Lameloise à Chagny en Bourgogne. He has had a three-star rating at his restaurant since 1979.Lameloise is a graduate of École Supérieure de Cuisine Française - Ferrandi....
said Loiseau had once confided, "If I lose a star, I'll kill myself".
A few weeks before his death, Loiseau was notified by Michelin that he would keep his third star. Nevertheless, the food writer Francois Simon wrote in Le Figaro that Loiseau and his third star were "living on borrowed time."
As of 2007, La Côte d'Or, now in the hands of executive chef Patrick Bertron, is still a three-star establishment, due much to the efforts of Loiseau and his second wife Dominique.
In media
The plot of the Pixar film RatatouilleRatatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
has its roots in Loiseau's life story. La Côte d'Or was one of the restaurants visited by Brad Bird
Brad Bird
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an Academy Award-winning American director, voice actor, animator and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille . He also adapted and directed the critically acclaimed 2D animated 1999 Warner Brothers...
and others in France.
Further reading
- Rudolph Chelminski, 2005. The Perfectionist : Life and Death in Haute Cuisine (Gotham/Penguin). Biography
- William Echikson, 1995. "Burgundy Stars: A Year in the Life of a Great French Restaurant" (Little, Brown).