Beyond the stars

The Michelin Guide, which awards its famous quality stars, evaluates restaurants in a too formalistic way, focusing less on wholesome regional cuisine and family traditions.

The term “star chef” has by now become part of the collective imagination in Italy and elsewhere. The “stars” are those that for many decades have been awarded by the Michelin Guide and, in this era of the social media and TripAdvisor, it remains the most authoritative restaurant guide on an international level.

However, for this reason and due to the guide’s French “soul”, the awarding of stars is inevitably based to a French point of view of what a restaurant should be. And this not so much and not only in regard to culinary choices but, above all, how a restaurant is organized and the quality of the service. After all, it should not be forgotten that the Michelin Guide was born as a guide for travelers and not gourmets and so certain factors that appeal to those who travel, like attention paid to hospitality and décor, are very important.

I, myself, have always had the impression that the evaluations of restaurants by the Michelin Guide were done according to parameters that were too formalistic, with a preference for those restaurants that respected more “international” tastes, even in the kitchen, rather than focusing on wholesome regional cuisine and family traditions, which are at the core of evolved Italian trattorias and restaurants. The end result is that chefs and restaurants with stars obtain greater media exposure and undeniable success with an international clientele but fail to accommodate the common tastes of Italian wine and food lovers.

Personally, a restaurant where I do not understand the cuisine, where I am almost looked down upon for asking to see the wine list rather than rely on the suggestions of the sommelier, where the service is overly formal and mechanical, a restaurant like this can have all the stars in the world but it will not have me as its client. Mine is obviously a personal opinion and I do not wish to criticize anyone in particular. What I am trying to say is that it may be a good thing to “go beyond the stars” and take into appreciation traditional cuisine and service that may seem more informal but is warm and welcoming. This without forgetting that “creative cuisine”, like jazz for music, is based on the creative skills of the interpreters, otherwise it becomes just boring and pretentious. It is a bit like modern fads that get old quickly. There are certain extraordinary dishes in traditional Italian cuisine that, being unknown to many, can represent a discovery or novelty more than some invention by any “star chef”.

Before leaving this world, I would like to publish a guide that focuses on restaurants, taverns and trattorias that specialize in regional Italian cuisine based on authentic local and, possibly, family traditions at affordable prices. It would be a nice response to the Michelin Guide and the condescending French point of view.