Bernard Daniel Jacques Loiseau (; 13 January 1951 – 24 February 2003) was a French

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

Le Relais Bernard Loiseau Le Relais Bernard Loiseau, formerly La Côte d'Or, is a Michelin Guide two-star French restaurant located in Saulieu, France. The restaurant was bought by Claude Verger in 1975, and Bernard Loiseau was installed as the chef de cuisine. The Mich ...

Saulieu Saulieu () is a rural Communes of France, commune in the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Its 2,413 inhabitants (in 2017) call themselves Sédélociens. Capital of the Morvan ...

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or () is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.

. He obtained three stars in the

Michelin Guide 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 star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...

and had a peak rating of 19.5/20 in the

Gault Millau Gault et Millau () is a French restaurant guide. It was founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965. Points system Gault Millau rates restaurants on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest. Restaurants given ...

restaurant guide A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in a ...

. He was one of the most mediatised French chefs between the 1980s and 1990s. In 2003, a short time after having become a member of the Relais & Châteaux association, Loiseau was downgraded from 19/20 to 17/20 in the Gault et Millau guide and received a strong negative media review from the gastronomic critic François Simon in the newspaper ''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', but he still had his three stars in the Michelin Guide. As criticism continued to pour in and while the media speculated about a possible future loss of a Michelin star, he died by suicide by self-inflicted gunshot without giving any explanation. The theories aiming at explaining his death are the object of strong

polemics Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

. His decision was likely due to increased bouts of clinical depression.

Early life

Loiseau was born in

Chamalières Chamalières (; Auvergnat: ) is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, central France. With 17,276 inhabitants (2019), Chamalières is the fourth-largest town in the department. It lies adjacent to the west of Clermo ...

, in the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

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.

Career

In 1972, Loiseau began working for

restaurateur 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 aspe ...

Claude Verger at La Barrière de Clichy, and was soon hailed as a prodigy by the

guide, a proponent of the nouvelle cuisine style that emphasised lightness and freshness in contrast to the cuisine classique of traditional French gastronomy. When Verger bought the formerly prestigious La Côte d'Or of

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

bestowed the coveted three-star rating on his establishment in 1991. His fanatical 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 The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 1994, Chevalier (Knight) de l'

Ordre national du Mérite The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...

in 1986, Officier (Officer) de l'

in 2002 and Chevalier du Mérite agricole.

Death

In the late 1990s, a new form of Asian-inspired "

fusion cuisine Fusion cuisine is a cuisine that combines elements of different cuisine, culinary traditions that originate from different countries, regions, or cultures. Cuisines of this type are not categorized according to any one particular cuisine style an ...

" 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 Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...

. Loiseau died by

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 ...

on 24 February 2003, shooting himself in the head with a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

after presiding over the lunch service in his restaurant. The

guide had recently downgraded his restaurant from 19/20 to 17/20, and there were also rumours in ''

'' that the

was planning to remove one of La Côte d'Or's three stars. Loiseau had made a life's ambition of becoming a three-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". While it was later reported that Loiseau was despondent over his debt issues and decreasing patronage at his restaurant, Michelin still received blame in some accounts. As of 2021 La Côte d'Or remains a two-star establishment in the hands of executive chef Patrick Bertron.

In popular media

The plot of the 2007

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

animated film ''

Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ; ) is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables that originated in Nice and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include tomato, garlic ...

'' has its roots in Loiseau's life story, with the film's character of chef Auguste Gusteau being inspired by both Loiseau and

Paul Bocuse Paul François Pierre Bocuse (; 11 February 1926 – 20 January 2018) was a French chef based in Lyon known for the quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. Dubbed "the pope of gastronomy", he was affectionately nick ...

. La Côte d'Or was one of the restaurants visited by director

Brad Bird Philip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning over four decades in both animation and Live action, live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up in Oregon. He ...

and others in France.

References

External links

Gourmandia Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loiseau, Bernard 1951 births 2003 deaths 2003 suicides French chefs French male chefs French restaurateurs Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants Knights of the Legion of Honour Knights of the Order of Agricultural Merit Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite People from Chamalières People with bipolar disorder Suicides by firearm in France