ONA, whose name is an acronym for the French version of Origin Non-Animal, has been awarded a Michelin star, elevating its status and also making it the first vegan restaurant in France to make the grade.
Of course, it’s not the first vegan restaurant in the world to get a Michelin star, but France is not Japan or California; it is famously the home of meat-based traditional and haute cuisine. So ONA, and its flamboyant chef, have made quite a stir.
Claire Vallée, originally an archaeologist who trained herself as a vegan chef, opened the restaurant in Ares, a small city near Bordeaux in 2016. It wasn’t easy—she had to turn to crowd-funding to raise capital because banks turned down her loan applications: ‘They said the outlook for veganism and plant-based food was too uncertain,’ she told reporters. She says she was surprised to get the call from Michelin, saying “I feel like I got hit by a train.”
