text: One of France's most feted chefs, whose restaurant has enjoyed the maximum three Michelin stars for the past two decades, has begged the illustrious food guide to strip him of the accolade because he can no longer stand the pressure. 
   
   Sébastien Bras, 46, whose restaurant Le Suquet in Laguiole, central France has been lauded as "spellbinding" by the Michelin guide, said that he wanted to be left out of its 2018 EDITION, published in February. 
   
   Taken aback, Michelin said that this was the first time that a chef had asked not to feature in the food bible without "justifying his choice by a change in (restaurant) concept or closing the business". 
   
   In his chef's whites, Mr Bras announced his decision in a Facebook video with the local Aubrac landscape out behind him, saying: “Today, at 46 years old, I want to give a new meaning to my life ... and redefine what is essential.” 
   
   The cook, who is famed for his young vegetable, herb and poultry juice Gargouillou, said: “Perhaps I am going to lose fame but I accept it, I assume it." 
   
   He added that he wanted to drop the stars before the level of stress that drove Bernard Loiseau, another three-star chef, to suicide in 2003. “That’s in a corner of my mind,” he said. ||||| One of France’s most celebrated chefs, whose restaurant has been honoured with three stars in the Michelin guide for almost 20 years, has pleaded to be stripped of the prestigious ranking because of the huge pressure of being judged on every dish he serves. 
   
   Sébastien Bras, 46, who runs the acclaimed Le Suquet restaurant in Laguiole where diners look over sweeping views of the Aubrac plateau in the Aveyron while tasting local produce, announced on Wednesday that he wanted to be dropped from the rankings of France’s gastronomic bible. 
   
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   Michelin said it was the first time a French chef had asked to be dropped from its restaurant guide in this way, without a major change of positioning or business model. 
   
   Bras said he wanted to be allowed to cook excellent food away from the frenzy of star ratings and the anxiety over Michelin’s anonymous food judges, who could arrive at his restaurant at any moment. 
   
   Le Suquet had been consistently described by the Michelin guide’s restaurant judges as so good it was “spellbinding”. 
   
   Bras, dressed in his chef’s whites, announced his decision in a Facebook video with the local landscape rolling out behind him, saying: “Today, at 46 years old, I want to give a new meaning to my life ... and redefine what is essential.” 
   
   He said his job had given him a lot of satisfaction but there was also huge pressure that was inevitably linked to the three Michelin stars first given to the restaurant in 1999. He asked to be allowed to continue his work with a free spirit and in serenity away from the world of rankings, without tension. He said he wanted to be dropped from the guide from next year. 
   
   Bras, who took over the family restaurant from his parents 10 years ago, later explained to AFP: “You’re inspected two or three times a year, you never know when. Every meal that goes out could be inspected. That means that, every day, one of the 500 meals that leaves the kitchen could be judged. 
   
   “Maybe I will be less famous but I accept that,” he said, adding that he would continue to cook excellent local produce “without wondering whether my creations will appeal to Michelin’s inspectors”. 
   
   Reacting to his decision, Claire Dorland Clauzel, a member of the French tyremaker’s executive committee, said: “We note and we respect it.” She said the request would not lead to Le Suquet’s automatic removal from the list, and would have to be given due consideration. 
   
   Bras said that like all chefs he sometimes found himself thinking of Bernard Loiseau, the acclaimed French chef who killed himself in 2003, an act widely seen as linked to rumours that he would lose his third Michelin star. “I’m not in the frame of mind,” Bras said. 
   
   Bras is one of only 27 French chefs who hold top rankings in the Michelin restaurant guide. He is not the first chef to walk away from the competitive world of Michelin-star cooking. However, others have only done so as part of a closure or a radical change to their restaurants. 
   
   In 2005, Paris restaurateur Alain Senderens – one of the pioneers of nouvelle cuisine – shocked the culinary world by giving back his three stars, claiming that diners were turned off by excessive luxury. He later reopened the restaurant under another name, with a simpler menu at a fraction of his old prices. 
   
   In 2008, three-star chef Olivier Roellinger closed his luxury restaurant in the Breton fishing village of Cancale, saying he wanted a quieter life. ||||| French chef Sébastien Bras wants to give up the three Michelin stars held by his rural restaurant in the south of France, Le Suquet à Laguiole (some 130 miles northwest of Montpellier). Bras has headed up the restaurant for 10 years, taking over from his father, the legendary chef Michel Bras, who’s credited with pioneering vegetable-focused haute cuisine. According to a report from Agence France-Presse (via Le Monde), Michel Bras agrees with the decision. 
   
   According to AFP, Bras and team are looking to relieve the pressure of expectations that the three-star rating brings. “This was a beautiful challenge and a source of great satisfaction... but there’s a huge pressure as a result of our three-star status, which we’ve held since 1999. Today, we want to proceed with a free spirit and without stress, to offer a cuisine and service that represents that spirit and our land.” 
   
   In another version of the story appearing in Le Figaro, Bras referred to the suicide of chef Bernard Loiseau in 2003, which was reportedly provoked by reports that his restaurant, La Côte d’Or, might lose one of its three stars. Bras said while he “is not in that kind of headspace,” it was indicative of the immense pressure of keeping up a restaurant’s rating. 
   
   On previous occasions in other countries, chefs have given up their restaurants’ stars (for example, Spain’s Casa Julio), although Michelin executive committee member Claire Dorland-Clauzel called it “a first” for the guide, possibly referring specifically to the Michelin Guide for France. Other chefs in France have in effect yielded their restaurants’ stars in the past, either by closing down or changing concepts. 
   
   It’s a big deal in France — although Japan has more three-starred restaurants, Michelin stars hold major cultural clout in a country that effectively prays at the altar of renowned, star-wielding chefs like Joël Robuchon. 
   
   In response to the request, Dorland-Clauzel noted that the process isn’t as simple as a restaurant renouncing its stars, and that while the request would be considered, it isn’t guaranteed: “The guide isn’t made for restaurateurs, but for customers.” 
   
   Dorland-Clauzel added that the pressure that Bras was invoking as a reason for the request is a key part of culinary excellence, in the eyes of the Michelin guide. 
   
   • Sébastien Bras renonce à figurer au guide Michelin [Le Monde] 
   
   • Sébastien Bras demande à sortir du Michelin [Le Figaro]
target: – To receive a Michelin star, let alone three, is a coveted honor for most chefs. But Sebastien Bras isn't most chefs, announcing Wednesday he wants his restaurant, Le Suquet in Laguiole, France, out of the famous guide due to the pressure, the Guardian reports. The three-star chef made his wishes known in a Facebook video, noting "at 46 years old, I want to give a new meaning to my life … and redefine what is essential." He called his move "a new chapter of my professional life" that will allow him to have "so much passion for the kitchen." A member of the executive committee for Michelin, which says Bras' request is the first time a chef has opted out without a restaurant undergoing some kind of major overhaul or closing, notes that while "we note and we respect" Bras' plea, her team is still reviewing it and that doesn't mean it's a definite. Bras, who took over the restaurant from his father, Michel, more than a decade ago, tells AFP he can no longer take reviewers showing up unannounced at any time, usually a few times a year. "I want to feel free without asking myself whether my creations will please the Michelin inspectors," he says. He adds that the 2003 suicide of French chef Bernard Loiseau, whose restaurant had been rumored to being close to losing its third star, was a factor. His father is supportive of his decision, AFP reports, via Eater, and another three-star chef who shut his own restaurant tells the Telegraph, "When the Michelin guide is no longer a driving force, it's better to change lanes." Bras knows this may knock him down a few pegs in the cooking world, but it doesn't faze him. "Maybe I will be less famous, but I accept that," Bras tells AFP. (London has become a Michelin hot spot.)