As Michelin doles out stars and food media (Eater included) compiles year-end restaurant rankings, one chef has had enough. Relae chef and Noma alum Christian Puglisi thinks restaurant rankings and awards are “ridiculous,” and it’s not because he’s not getting them.
“I have grown so tired of this constant need to sizing, ranking and listing every single thing in this industry,” Puglisi wrote in an Instagram post. The chef and his Copenhagen restaurant empire, which includes Relae, wine bar Manfreds, pizzeria Baest, cafe Mirabelle, and a “farm of ideas,” receive their fair share of awards. Relae has one Michelin star, is No. 39 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants rankings, and won that organization’s sustainable restaurant award in 2015 and 2016.
According to his Insta-rant, Puglisi was recently named the 69th best chef in the world by an unnamed organization, and, he says, “I really hope that you really don’t give a flying fuck! Because guess what? You shouldn’t!”
While he acknowledges that awards and rankings have helped his business and boosted his ego, he thinks that the constant sizing up creates a competition out of something that’s not meant to be competitive. “It’s not sports, it’s not politics. It’s not about votes, it’s not about ratings. It’s about eating, living, cooking, and kicking ass,” he says. Plus, he adds, it’s unfair that anyone “judge me or anyone else on a scale with thousands of other cooks that I might have a lot or absolutely nothing in common with.”
The Instagram post’s comment section is now filled with praise and affirmation from fellow chefs and diners who are weary of the lists. Although, at least one commenter points out that without them, Puglisi wouldn’t have quite as many supportive followers. See his argument in full below:
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