Jean-georges VONGERICHTEN

The Michelin-starred French chef with a vegetarian tasting menu

THE NEW YORK CITY BASED, ALSATIAN

BORN JEAN GEORGES VONGERICHTEN , who operates more than 30 restaurants around the world, has long been a sovereign of ne dining. Now he’s pivoting toward a new role – as a champion for plantbased eating.

When I was growing up in France, the meals my family made were 65% vegetables – a small roast pork to feed the entire family, vegetables from our garden and some grain. So when I opened Jean-georges, in 1997, I wanted to do composed dishes – not just with meat and fish but with a lot of vegetables too. But back then, the availability of varied, fresh vegetables in New York wasn’t that much. As time went by, though, more people were asking for a vegetarian menu, so we would create one à la minute using what we had in the kitchen. The availability at the local farmers market was [also] improving – six different colours of carrots, five colours of beets. People wanted to eat more vegetables for their health and also for the sake of preserving nature. It takes two weeks to grow a radish but two years to grow a steak. I opened ABC Kitchen in 2010, and abcv in 2017, because people were saying, ‘You’re doing such a good job with cooking vegetables, so why don’t you open a vegetarian restaurant?’ And in September, I added a vegetarian tasting menu to Jean-georges. When you consider the array of vegetables, herbs and spices, there’s no limit. You can be more creative. They make you think outside of the box, be more experimental, and feel better about the future of the planet. It’s more gratifying. And nobody needs to eat a 1.5kg steak. We’re going back to what we’re supposed to eat. I want to be a part of that future.