How the Michelin Tire Company Became Synonymous With Fine Dining Through Their Star Rating System
Max MillerofTasting History explained how the Michelin tire company became known as an arbiter of fine dining with their prestigious restaurant star rating system. Miller talked about this while preparing a tasty historic chicken dish from La Mere Brazier, a three star Michelin restaurant in Lyon, France.
It Started Out With Travel Guides by the Michelin BrothersIt began with brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin going on a road trip to make their bespoke tires known. The brothers also printed free guidebooks that included local maps, car instructions, filling station locations, car repair shops, and even a bit about restaurants.
That first Michelin guidewas filled with maps and information on how totake care of your car,car and tire maintenance. ...There werethe locations of fuelingstations, very few existedthen,and auto mechanics in case you broke down. Andthen almost as an afterthought there was a list of quality restaurantsthat you could visit whenyou were going around the country.
The Michelin Maps Became More Important Than the Guides During World War IIMiller explained that the guide improved as it grew more popular. Expert cartographers were hired to create more intricate and professional maps.
Michelinhired some of the best cartographers in Europe tocreate the maps for their guide, and their mapswere always up to date every year,it was redone and they were very detailed and supposedly some of the best available.
In fact, these maps were used during World War II. First by the Germans, who used them to invade European countries, and then by the Americans to help soldiers storm the beaches of Normandy.
The Germans were preparing foran imminent Allied invasion. They began destroyingstreet signs and andanything that could help thethe Allies know where they were going once theygot into France. But someone in the U.S. had a 1939copy of the Michelin Guide from France and so inWashington DC in 1944 they republished many ofthese old guides and gave them to the soldierswho were storming the beachesof Normandy.
After the war ended, Michelin went back to tires and their popular restaurant reviews, where they became an important part of restaurant history.
Michelin Guide was just for France and then for for parts mostly of WesternEurope. It wasn't until 2005 that a guidereviewing New York restaurants premiered, and in 2007, a Tokyoguide went on sale. Today the guide covers37 countries. The guide is both prestigious andfraught with controversy, and earning or losing astar can make or break a restaurant and the chef buttoday a trip to a Michelin star restaurant is the promise of a unique culinary experience.