Are we at a turning point in the evolution of gastronomy? Paris: an exemplary case

Abstract

Over the past few years, the landscape of top-class gastronomy has empirically changed: some celebrity chefs are returning their hard-won awards to instead provide low-cost food while others work tirelessly to gain access to the inner circle of international top-class restaurants. Things are changing, but the direction is unclear. To analyse the situation, we took the case of French Parisian gastronomy – because it has been the main model for world gastronomy. Our study of it focuses on the Michelin Guide selection, covering the 60-year period 1950–2012. We then applied multiple correspondence analysis to establish the profiles of the Parisian restaurants and to find out whether these profiles have evolved. This article shows that a turning point has clearly been reached and that gastronomic pluralism is on the rise – to the detriment of the hegemony of elitist gastronomy.

Keywords:

• gastronomy
• luxury industries
• segmentation
• MCA

JEL Classification:

• Z10

Notes

¹ 1934 represents the beginning of the evaluation of the quality of cooking through the Michelin stars.

² For instance, French GDP in 1950 was €15 billion, compared with €1440 billion in 2000 (in constant euros, 2011 base). French GDP in 2011 (according to the International Monetary Fund) is €2239 billion. In the France of 2007, average gross wage per capita was about €32 200 whereas it was only €7600 in 1950 (in constant data). Source: Bouvier and Pilarski (2008).

³ Michelin provides information on the price of a meal in selected restaurants: prices for the fixed-price menu, or à la carte, and for each, one minimum and one maximum price. In constant euro (2011 base), the average price of a low-end menu in the restaurants selected by the Red Guide in Ile de France (the Paris area) was 13.3 in 1950, 32.8 in 2000 and 45.8 in 2012; for the high-end menu, we have, respectively, 18.4, 47.6 and 65.5; for the low-end à la carte 20.4, 49.5 and 53.7; for the high-end à la carte 24, 69.7 and 86.6.

⁴ 0 F&S is not represented in Paris, yet it is used in other French regions and in other issues of the Red guidebook, such as New York City, for example.

⁵ These three new categories are relatively homogeneous. There are minor differences between 0 and 1 F&S, between 2 and 3 and between 4 and 5, as is attested to by the fact that some restaurants frequently evolve within our new categories (for instance from 2 to 3 one year, and after some years they return to 2) but rarely between our three categories. Moreover, the criteria used for the ranking are close within our three categories (there are few differences between a 2 and 3 F&S).

⁶ And also in the bottom category, 0 + 1 F&S, as there is no longer selected restaurants with no fork in the Guide.

⁷ As the number of ‘awarded’ establishments have increased 88.46% over our study period, it is not a substitution movement. Bib restaurants join starred restaurants, rather than replacing them.

⁸ The Red Guide identifies two types of establishments: restaurants and hotels with public restaurants. Here, we are dealing only with gastronomic services and not hotels; because there are too few examples of the second category, the statistical analysis is unbalanced. Moreover, the Parisian gastronomic market depicted by the Red Guide principally comprises restaurants.

⁹ The year 1960 is more interesting than the year 1950 because 1950 was too close to the Second World War and its food rationing.