The chefs are trembling, the critics salivating and the table set for a week-long jamboree of gastronomic indulgence. But, as the kings of haute cuisine descend on Paris, fears are growing that celebrations of the Michelin Guide's 100th edition will be somewhat sweet and sour.
Long-standing criticisms of the way it is compiled, and concerns that the economic downturn is robbing the finest restaurants of their clientele, have combined to give the culinary bible's centenary launch the air of a crisis summit.
In advance of today's release, at which the industry's biggest names will find out whether they have been awarded one or more of the coveted Michelin stars, its growing number of critics are claiming that it has become an anachronism in a world of global variety and changing palettes.
They say the guide, which started in the early 1900s as a pamphlet for journeying motorists and grew into the defining gastronomic reference book of the 20th century, is stuck in the past and too snobbish to recognise new forms of culinary genius.
The detractors, including Le Figaro's food critic François Simon, question its opaque decision-making and accuse inspectors of being unashamedly biased towards French tradition. Claiming the guide valued "technical merits" over "emotion and spontaneity", Simon accused the 2009 edition of once again ignoring popular, more accessible chefs. "Good bistros, which get the public's vote, have once again been passed over, while meeker and more gastronomically correct cooking has been rewarded," he wrote.
Simon has reserved particular contempt for Gordon Ramsay, who is expected to be awarded two stars for his restaurant at Versailles and whose food was described by the critic last year as "boring, pompous and very expensive". Another chef predicted to bask in glory this year is Eric Fréchon, whose kitchen at the luxury Hotel Bristol in Paris will reportedly be the sole new recipient of three stars.
The sniping, however, has been batted off by the red guide's director, who points towards the fact that, with 1.2m copies sold globally last year, the book still has immense pulling power. "We have no competitors, either in France or abroad," said Jean-Luc Naret. Rejecting accusations of an inherent French bias, he added: "In France we are French, in Germany German, in the United States American and in Japan Japanese."
A more pressing concern to Naret may be the unfriendly economic climate. According to the Chef Culinary Network, top-class restaurants have seen a drop in business of about 25% since the global downturn kicked in.
• This article was amended on Monday 2 March 2009. Above we should have said Gordon Ramsay, not Jamie Oliver, has a restaurant in Versailles. This has been corrected.
