Benoît Violier (; 22 August 1971 – 31 January 2016) was a French-Swiss chef . Violier owned the three

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in a suburb of Lausanne, Switzerland from 2012 to his death. The establishment topped the first La Liste in December 2015.

Biography

Born in

Saintes, Charente-Maritime Saintes (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Sénte'') is a Communes of France, commune and historic town in western France, in the Charente-Maritime department of which it is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Saintes is ...

, France, he went to Paris in 1991 to study with

Joël Robuchon Joël Robuchon (, 7 April 1945 – 6 August 2018) was a French chef and restaurateur. He was named "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989, and awarded the ''Meilleur Ouvrier de France'' (France's best worker) in cuisine in 197 ...

, Benoît Guichard and others. Violier moved to Switzerland in 1996 to work with Philippe Rochat. Upon Rochat's retirement in 2012, Violier began running the restaurant. He applied for Swiss citizenship in 2014. He specialised in cooking

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

Death

Violier died at home in

Crissier Crissier () is a municipality in the district of Ouest Lausannois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is a suburb of Lausanne. History Crissier is first mentioned in 1199 as ''Crissiaco''. In 1228 it was mentioned as ''Crissie''. Geograp ...

, Switzerland, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on 31 January 2016, aged 44. Violier's

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

prompted shock and confusion, as Violier's restaurant Le Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville had been crowned by the French government as the best restaurant in the world only a month before, leading the media to hail Violier as "the world's best chef." It also drew attention to the high-pressure world of

haute cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is a style of cooking characterised by meticulous preparation, elaborate presentation, and the use of high quality ingredients. Typically prepared by highly skilled gourmet chefs, haute cuisine dish ...

. Swiss media subsequently reported that Violier may have been a victim of a

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

in which individual bottles of wine were sold several times; however, the management of his restaurant denied that Violier had any connection with the fraud. Star chef Benoît Violier may have been victim of wine scam, report claims
Jon Henley, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', published February 8, 2016; retrieved February 8, 2016

Food gallery

Créations du Chef Benoît Violier a.JPG, Composition verte Créations du Chef Benoît Violier b.JPG, Composition maritime (homard et rouget) Créations du Chef Benoît Violier d.JPG, Symphonie papillaire Créations du Chef Benoît Violier e.JPG, Sonate printanière Créations du Chef Benoît Violier f.JPG, Asperges sauvageonnes sur émulsion Créations du Chef Benoît Violier c.JPG, Structure en équilibre Créations du Chef Benoît Violier g.JPG, Éclat de joies Créations du Chef Benoît Violier h.JPG, Bouquet d'amour

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Violier, Benoit 1971 births 2016 deaths French chefs French male chefs Swiss chefs French restaurateurs Suicides by firearm in Switzerland People from Saintes, Charente-Maritime Naturalised citizens of Switzerland French emigrants to Switzerland 2016 suicides