French-born chef Dominique Crenn, who founded Atelier Crenn in San Francisco in 2011, remains the first and only woman in the United States to hold three Michelin stars.
Now, she wants the restaurant world, and Michelin in particular, to do a better job of recognizing women, who have played a defining role in the culinary arts for millennia.
“There are so many women with incredible talent,” Crenn told AFP in an interview during a visit to Mexico, arguing that female chefs often remain overlooked in elite kitchens despite their skills.
“I have the impression that they use the talent of these young women without promoting them,” she said.
“I would like Michelin to start recognizing other women.”
Globally, only six women have received the coveted three-star distinction in the Michelin Guide’s 2026 editions.
Crenn, who was being honored at a food and cultural festival on Mexico’s Riviera Maya, paused between a hectic round of appearances to devour two beef-cheek tacos with salsa verde prepared by Mexican chef Karime Lopez.
“It’s delicious!” she exclaimed between bites.
“When I eat it, I have the impression that she is telling me the story of Mexico, the place where she comes from, and that is important.”
– ‘Make us think’ –
Rebellious, innovative and outspoken, Crenn moves through kitchens with the energy of someone still hungry.
During the interview, she wandered among cooks in Lopez’s busy kitchen, sampling sauce from a large spoon and offering her approval.
Dressed in a green jacket, baseball cap and dark glasses, she paused to chat before leaving the room with a small dance.
Her own cooking seeks to provoke reflection as much as pleasure.
“Food nourishes us physically, of course, but it should nourish us as well” intellectually, she said, adding that it should “make us think.”
That philosophy extends to sustainability.
“If you’re in California and you’re buying fish from the other side of the world, why?” she asked.
“Use the nearby ocean. Use the products from your environment.”
Crenn said she worries about increasingly frequent extreme weather events because of their impact on small producers, whom she considers fundamental to her work.
This year, she noted, El Nino in the Pacific has been disrupting weather patterns.
“We are responsible because we do not take care of nature,” she said. “We must become an ecosystem in the way we feed ourselves.”
– Love and vulnerability –
Crenn divides her time between her restaurant in San Francisco and a biodynamic, regenerative farm in Sonoma, about an hour north of the city.
Chickens roam the property, where fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers are grown for Atelier Crenn and Bar Crenn. Two 200-year-old trees provide walnuts.
Whatever is not used is repurposed through fermentation or composting.
The farm also serves as a laboratory where members of her team can experiment.
For Crenn, “life is a poem” and cooking for others is an act of love and vulnerability.
Yet retaining three Michelin stars comes with what she describes as enormous pressure.
“Products are very expensive, labor is very, very expensive, and I think cooks must be paid properly,” she said.
Her restaurant deliberately remains small, with only nine tables, allowing her to spend time with guests.
Far removed from the old military-style kitchen brigades associated with fine dining, she argues that success depends on the wellbeing of staff.
“When I opened Atelier Crenn, I decided to reinvest in my team,” she said.
“I would make less profit, but invest in the people who work with me. And now it is a success.”
– Cooking from the heart –
Crenn served as a technical advisor on the 2022 psychological thriller “The Menu,” an experience she says she enjoyed because it was “also something very, very creative.”
She is less enthusiastic about the image of chefs presented by television cooking competitions, even though she has appeared as a judge on France’s “Top Chef.”
“People love them and they can help discover talent,” she said. “But cooking is not like that.”
On television, she said, authenticity is often missing.
For Crenn, the best food comes from a deeply personal place.
“When there is a story to tell, an emotion that comes from a very vulnerable place… it’s like a painting — its colors, the reason why,” she said.
“We combine all of that. But it has to come from inside us.”
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Dining and Cooking