This summer, the Burgundian restaurant Le Charlemagne warned on its website: “We no longer accept people: vegetarians, pescetarians [qui consomment du poisson mais pas de viande], celiacs [intolérantes au gluten]. » At the origin of this measure, the fed up of Laurent Peugeot, boss of this starred house located in the middle of the vineyard, near Beaune (Côte-d’Or). “Fifteen years ago, people allergic to gluten came with a doctor’s note, and we were careful because the slightest misstep in the kitchen could be fatal, he remembers. We didn’t have fun flouring molds for pie crusts, because that could send customers to the hospital. Today, when we offer a small sesame and epoisses gougère, people supposedly intolerant to gluten tell us that it looks good and that they can eat it! Many “allergics” simply don’t like certain ingredients… Which discredits the real sufferers, and makes our work really complicated. »
The notice placed on the site did not help much: “intolerant” customers did not stop coming to Charlemagne. The restaurant removed it. “Today, we are instead trying to do pedagogy, explains the chef. We must understand that when we work on a unique menu, we move forward with high-end products, beef matured for two months, pigeon raised 3 kilometers from home… difficult to replace. »
We distinguish between allergic people (immediate symptoms, leading to an immune response which can affect the skin, the digestive system or the respiratory tract, and put people in danger of death) and intolerant people (delayed symptoms generally resulting in intestinal disorders). A study carried out by theNational Food Safety Agency, between 2014 and 2015, out of 2,288 adults and 2,084 young people (up to 17 years old) indicates that 3.9% of adults and 4.2% of young people believe they suffer from intolerance or food allergies. This data is fragile, because many real or suspected patients do not get diagnosed. One thing is certain, restaurateurs are seeing more and more customers claiming to be intolerant: most of them (including Laurent Peugeot) consider that one table in ten would be affected.
“The number of clients who have specific diets depends mainly on where you work”REMARK Mory Sacko. The already strong chef (more than 2 meters) seems disproportionate in his restaurant MoSuke, small and delicate like an origami placed not far from the Montparnasse tower. Having visited the Royal Monceau, the Shangri-La and the Mandarin Oriental before exploding in the media on “Top Chef”, the boss observes that the international clientele of palaces more frequently tries to influence the menu. “At MoSuke, I have at least one customer who talks to me about allergies every day, he slips. But American customers are ten times more difficult than French customers! »
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