Anne-Sophie Pic
Anne-Sophie Pic in 2008
Born (1969-07-12) 12 July 1969 (age 54)
Valence, Drôme, France
SpouseDavid Sinapian
Children1
Culinary career
Cooking styleFrench cuisine
Rating(s)
Current restaurant(s)
    • Maison Pic 3 Michelin stars
    • Restaurant Anne-Sophie Pic 2 Michelin stars
    • La Dame de Pic (London) 2 Michelin stars
    • La Dame de Pic (Paris) 1 Michelin star
    • La Dame de Pic - Le 1920 1 Michelin star
    • La Dame de Pic (Singapore) 1 Michelin star


Award(s) won
    • Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef 2011
Websitewww.pic-valence.fr

Anne-Sophie Pic (French pronunciation: [an sɔfi pik], born 12 July 1969) is a French chef best known for regaining three Michelin stars for her restaurant, Maison Pic, in southeast France. She is the fourth female chef to win three Michelin stars, and was named the Best Female Chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2011. She currently holds 10 Michelin stars.

Biography

Anne-Sophie Pic was born in Valence, Drôme, in France on 12 July 1969.[1] She is the daughter of chef Jacques Pic, and grew up at her family's restaurant, Maison Pic. Her grandfather, Andre Pic, was also a chef, who was particularly known for a crayfish gratin dish,[2] and who first gained the restaurant three Michelin stars in 1934.[3] She initially decided not to follow in their footsteps, and instead travelled overseas to train in management.[2] She worked in Japan and the United States as an intern for various companies, including Cartier and Moët & Chandon,[4] but found herself drawn back to the restaurant for her "passion".[3]

In 1992, at the age of 23, she returned to Maison Pic to train under her father to become a chef. He died three months later, and she moved to working the front of the house. In 1995, the restaurant lost its third Michelin star; feeling she had lost "her father's star"[5] spurred her to return to the kitchen. In 1997, Pic took control of the restaurant.[2] She had no formal training in cooking.[5]

In 2007, she regained Maison Pic's three Michelin stars. This was only the fourth time ever that a female chef had achieved three Michelin stars.[2] That same year, Pic was the only woman on French newspaper Le Figaro's list of the top twenty richest chefs in France.[2]

She opened her second restaurant, Restaurant Anne-Sophie Pic, in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was awarded two Michelin stars in 2009, which it has retained ever since, and is located within the Beau-Rivage Palace hotel.[4][6] In September 2012, she opened her first Paris-based restaurant, La Dame de Pic.[5] The restaurant has received one Michelin star.

Pic is married to David Sinapian and has a son named Nathan.[4][5]

In 2015 and 2016, Pic was a member of the Prix Versailles judges panel.[7]

In 2017, Pic opened her first London restaurant, also called La Dame de Pic, in the Four Seasons Hotel at 10 Trinity Square in the City of London. It was awarded a Michelin star within less than a year of opening for the 2018 Michelin Guide. A second star followed for the 2020 Guide,[8] and both have been retained since.[9]

In 2018, she appeared as a judge on the "France" episode and in the finale of The Final Table, season 1.[citation needed] In the same year she was profiled in Maya Gallus's documentary film The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution.[10]

In 2019, she opened a restaurant, also under the name La Dame de Pic, in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.[8][11][12] It was awarded one Michelin star in the 2022 Guide.[13]

In June 2020, she and other chefs, as well as architects, Nobel laureates in Economics and leaders of international organizations, signed the appeal in favour of the purple economy ("Towards a cultural renaissance of the economy"), published in Corriere della Sera,[14] El País[15] and Le Monde.[16]

At the end of 2020, she opened another restaurant called La Dame de Pic - Le 1920 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Megève, France. It was awarded its first Michelin star in the 2022 Guide.[17]

In summer 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she launched a food truck in Valence called Pic-up, featuring her first time offering hamburgers.[11]

Awards

In 2011, she received the Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef award, named after Madame Clicquot Ponsardin[18] and given by the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards scheme from British magazine Restaurant. It was the first time the category had been awarded, and it was thought to have been closely fought between Pic, Elena Arzak and Nadia Santini.[3] At the time of the award, Pic was the only three Michelin starred female chef in France.[4]

On 14 July 2011, she was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the French Legion of Honour.[19]

In 2009, Pic received the Eckart Witzigmann Award for excellent culinary art.[20]

References

  1. ^ Stange, Mary Zeiss; Oyster, Carol K.; Sloan, Jane E. (2013). The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World. SAGE Publications. p. 742. ISBN 978-1-4522-7068-5.
  2. ^ a b c d e Chrisafis, Angelique (22 February 2007). "A woman's place: France rocked by Michelin's latest three-star chef". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 August 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "French chef named World's Best Female Chef". The Independent. 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d Passariello, Christina (17 September 2011). "The Illusionist of French Gastronomy". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d Anderson, Becky (10 April 2012). "'World's best female chef' shares recipe for success". CNN. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Anne-Sophie Pic". Via Michelin. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  7. ^ "Prix Versailles website". Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Anne-Sophie Pic is the chef patron of two Michelin-starred restaurant La Dame de Pic at the Four Seasons Hotel in London". The Staff Canteen. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  9. ^ Hansen, James; Coghlan, Adam (16 February 2022). "Here Are London's Michelin-Starred Restaurants for 2022". London Eater. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  10. ^ Teotonio, Isabel (24 April 2018). "New documentary the Heat puts spotlight on female chefs in male-dominated industry". Toronto Star.
  11. ^ a b Van, Amy (3 December 2022) [1 December 2022]. "Anne-Sophie Pic: Cooking with heart and soul". Business Insider. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  12. ^ Alimin, Jasmine (23 August 2022). "Food review: Summer menus at La Dame de Pic and Mad About Sucre". The Edge Singapore. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  13. ^ Boonmee, Chisa (25 July 2022). "Raffles Hotel Singapore Celebrates a New Culinary Milestone With La Dame De Pic Awarded One Michelin Star". Global Travel Media. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  14. ^ "Per un rinascimento culturale dell'economia". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 7 June 2020. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  15. ^ "Por un renacimiento cultural de la economía". El País (in Spanish). 7 June 2020. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  16. ^ "En dépit de son importance croissante, le culturel n'a pas suffisamment été pensé comme un écosystème". Le Monde (in French). 7 June 2020. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  17. ^ Ayling, Lim (10 October 2022) [5 October 2022]. "Alpine Delights at Anne-Sophie Pic's La Dame de Pic – Le 1920". Elite Traveler. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  18. ^ "Best Female Chef". The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  19. ^ "Anne-Sophie Pic Promue Dans L'Ordre National De La Légion D'Honneur". Le Chef (in French). 15 July 2011. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  20. ^ "Award Winners 2009 – Internationaler Eckart Witzigmann Preis". Eckart-witzigmann-preis.de. 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
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