Alain Ducasse Gets 50 Best's Lifetime Achievement Award

World renowned chef Alain Ducasse has been given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards to celebrate his 30-year career in restaurants. According to a press release announcing the award, Ducasse was chosen not only for his personal successes, but for his influence on the chefs that comprise the 50 Best list as well. This award was given to Thomas Keller last year and Juan Mari Arzak the year before that, so Ducasse is in good company.

Below, the press release announcing the award; the 2013 World's 50 Best list will be announced in London on April 29.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER 2013: ALAIN DUCASSE

Alain Ducasse has pushed the boundaries of excellence in cooking and the dining experience throughout his 30-year career in gastronomy. The Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Diners Club International®, part of The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2013, acknowledges not only Ducasse's reputation for innovative French cuisine but also his indisputable influence over today's generation of chefs and restaurateurs around the world.

Since being awarded three Michelin stars at the tender age of 33 for his 33-month old Le Louis XV at the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco, Ducasse has gone on to become one of the world's most decorated chefs and the first to have been awarded three Michelin stars in three different cities. Since its inception, he has scored 14 positions on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, more than any other chef.

An international chef in every sense, his efforts to promote 'glocal' thinking - a global vision of what's going on globally but operating locally - sees each of Ducasse's restaurants having a local sensibility with its own story. "In each of my restaurants the chef is the conduit between nature and culture. The question of the wise use of the planet's resources is essential to me," Alain Ducasse explains.

Alain Ducasse Entreprise, the group founded by Alain Ducasse, comprises more than 20 restaurants around the world, three inns in Europe, an independent hotel association, a culinary publishing house, an international education division with a cooking school for all in Paris as well as a pastry school for professionals and amateurs alike and a culinary training centre for chefs.

Though not all of the chefs on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, which is sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, have worked directly for Ducasse, they all acknowledge his impact. From Noma's Rene Redzepi, who grew up reading Ducasse's cookbooks to Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana, who paid homage to his former mentor in a now signature dish - Compression of Pasta and Beans. For those affectionately referred to as "Génération Ducasse", his influence is omnipotent. For Alain Ducasse the future of cuisine lies in diversity. "Each chef has his own specific emotional territory of expression, different from the others. It is this difference that makes the wealth of the ensemble." Last year for the 25th anniversary of the Le Louis XV in Monaco and probably the best illustration of how much Ducasse values cuisine's multiple expressions today, he gathered together 240 chefs-among them more than 20 chefs featuring on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list- from 25 countries representing 5 continents and 300 Michelin stars. As French Academy chairperson for The World's 50 Best Restaurants, Andrea Petrini, commented, "He is the crown prince of French gastronomy. No other individual could have brought such a breathtaking array of culinary talent together in one place."

William Drew, Editor of Restaurant magazine, organisers of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, said:

"We are delighted that this prestigious accolade is going to one of the greatest chefs in France, and indeed the world. The Lifetime Achievement Award is voted for by industry experts from across the globe - chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and critics and well-travelled gourmets - and as such this is an acknowledgement from the restaurant world itself of Chef Ducasse's achievements and positive influence."

· The Lifetime Achievement Awards: Alain Ducasse [World's 50 Best]
· All Alain Ducasse Coverage on Eater [-E-]
[Photo: World's 50 Best]