The representation of sustainable cuisine in French commercial cooks

Résumé En

Faced with the challenges of sustainability, chefs must reconsider their traditional professional practices, especially when cooking with meat. The environmental costs associated with the production of this food are calling for a decrease in overall meat consumption, which requires an adaptation of chefs' practices. This research aims to explore how the topics of traditional cooking, sustainable cooking and meat cooking are reconciled in the representations and practices of chefs. This study is based on a corpus of semi-structured interviews conducted with 29 chefs from the French commercial restaurant industry. The results indicate that chefs maintain an attraction to meat-based cuisine while being aware of the environmental impacts of meat production. Plant-based cuisine enjoys a special aura for chefs, associated with new culinary practices and a vector of creativity. Barriers to its development persist, such as the perception of a clientele reluctant to discover new dishes, a work organization that needs to be rethought as the preparation of plant-based dishes can be more time-consuming, and price adjustments with respect to the dishes.