Marc Veyrat (born 8 May 1950) is a French chef from the

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie () is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its Prefectures in France, prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Gene ...

region, who specialises in

molecular gastronomy Molecular gastronomy is the Science, scientific approach of cuisine from primarily the perspective of chemistry. The composition (Structural formula, molecular structure), properties (mass, viscosity, etc) and transformations (chemical reaction ...

and the use of mountain plants and herbs. Veyrat has obtained a total of nine

Michelin Stars 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 ...

and is the first cook to get the perfect grade of 20/20 in the Gault et Millau guide for each of his two first restaurants. He was the owner of the restaurants ''La Maison de Marc Veyrat'' (or ''l'Auberge de l'Eridan'') in Veyrier-du-Lac and ''

la Ferme de mon Père ''La Ferme de Mon Père'' ( French for "My Father's Farm") was a restaurant in Megève, France, owned by the French chef Marc Veyrat. It was famous for being one of two restaurants, both owned by Veyrat, to receive a perfect score (20/20) from the ...

'' in

Megève Megève (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France with a population of more than 3,000 residents. The town is well known as a ski resort near Mont Blanc in the French Alps. Co ...

. He currently operates the restaurant ''La Maison des Bois'' in Manigod. All three restaurants obtained three stars. In 2019, Veyrat was awarded two Michelin Stars for ''La Maison des Bois'', and sued Michelin saying that the loss of one star was a miscommunication. On 24 February 2009, he announced that he would cease all of his activities at ''la Maison de Marc Veyrat'' due to his declining health. The hotel is currently being run by his children. He started a chain of organic "fast-food" restaurants all over France called ''la Cozna Vera''. The first one opened in

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

in 2008 and was later closed in 2010. He has plans to build other restaurants in Épagny, Brussels, and Paris. His work was featured on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

's '' Discovery Atlas: France Revealed''. In December 2015, Veyrat was fined €100,000 by a French court after illegally cutting down 7,000 sq metres of protected forest near one of his restaurants.

Cuisine

Marc Veyrat is known for his creativity and use of natural and organic ingredients. He specialises in

. Rather than using butter, flour, eggs, oil, or cream, he instead uses roots, mountain plants, mountain herbs, and wild flowers harvested in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...

Controversy

In 2015, Veyrat was fined €100,000 by a French court for illegally destroying 7,000 sq metres of protected forest in the Alps and for ordering a large area of protected wetlands to be dried up. On top of the fine, the court ordered him to restore the wetlands. After losing his third Michelin star in the 2019 edition of the '' Red Guide'' which appeared in January 2019, he asked in July to be removed from the guide, but Michelin refused. In September 2019, he filed a suit against Michelin demanding a full explanation for the lost star, including the notes made by inspectors at the time of their visit and the explicit reasons for the removal of the star. He described the suggestion that he had used an English cheese in one of his dishes as "profoundly offensive" and "worse than the loss of my parents". However, the judges held that "the independence of the evaluation constitutes the liberty of expression of the guide's inspectors," and ordered him to pay the court costs.

Gallery

Portrait du Chef Marc VEYRAT.jpg Marc Veyrat 020.jpg Marc Veyrat 021.jpg Marc Veyrat 022.jpg Marc Veyrat 023.jpg Marc Veyrat 024.jpg Marc Veyrat 026.jpg

Bibliography

* ''Fou de saveurs'' (1994) * ''Herbier gourmand'' (1997) * ''La cuisine paysanne'' (1998) * ''Quatre saisons (à la carte)'' (2000) * ''L'herbier des montagnes – Tout savoir sur les plantes et les fleurs d'altitude'' (2000) * ''Déguster les plantes sauvages'' (2003) * ''L'encyclopédie culinaire du XXIe siècle'' (2003) * ''L'herbier à croquer'' (2004) * ''Le gibier en 80 recettes'' (2004) * ''Herbier gourmand'' (2004) * ''Cuisine paysanne'' (2005)

References

External links

marcveyrat.fr

Gourmandia Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veyrat, Marc 1950 births Living people French chefs French male chefs Cuisine of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants