Cumbria’s stars
When a county is viewed as a destination, who are Michelin stars really serving?
On Monday, The Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2024 will be released. This upcoming ceremony is one of many for the organisation which currently inspects restaurants located across four continents.
The Guide claims that cities and countries must have a certain gastronomic landscape to warrant coverage. However, other factors are also at play; a wonderful article published by Eater in 2018 highlighted how it's money, not food, that lures the Michelin man from his garage.
The article reveals that The Korean Tourism Organization paid approximately $1.8 million to bring the Guide into its country. Peanuts compared to $4.4 million, five-year deal The Tourism Authority of Thailand successfully closed. Given these substantial piles of cash, its no wonder the rotund mascot is always smiling.
To be clear, tourism boards do not pay this money out of deference to the Guide. Instead, these huge sums of money are seen as a smart investment paid in the knowledge that a Michelin Guide equals Michelin stars which, in turn, dramatically boost tourism.
Research backs up this sentiment. After studying the data, a paper published by faculty at the University of Seville reported that: “Michelin-starred restaurants are a strong attraction for foreign tourists.” The draw of these establishments on domestic tourists was found to be less pronounced although still powerful. Unsurprisingly, three-star establishments were found to exert the greatest pull.
At the time of writing, Cumbria boasts the most stars of any English county with 13 coming via 11 restaurants. With three to its name, Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume has more stars than the entirety of Northumberland and is the poster boy for Cumbria’s rise to gastronomic stardom. Here, Rogan champions a traceable, seasonal approach to cooking. An approach which is steadily becoming synonymous with fine-dining in the Lakes.
Aside from developing Cumbria’s contemporary culinary identity, L’Enclume, and the county’s other Michelin-starred restaurants, have also resulted in some long overdue respect being paid to Cumbrian food. Economically, jobs have been created, cash injected.
These positives are well known and oft repeated. What’s discussed less frequently is the role Michelin stars play in entrenching Cumbria's most enduring problems.
In 2022, a report found that 34% of all properties in Keswick are not occupied year round. In Borrowdale, that number was over 50%. For anyone that has lived in Cumbria, these numbers will not come as a surprise. Sectors including both housing and hospitality have increasingly catered for the county’s 47 million annual visitors over the years, often at the expense of its residents. To put it simply, Cumbria is increasingly viewed as a destination, not a home.
Sadly, Cumbria’s abundance of Michelin stars not only reflects this damaging view, but reinforces it. As the Michelin Guide itself states, restaurants like L’Enclume are “worth a special journey.”
The symbiotic relationship between luxury restaurants and tourism can be devastating for local communities. House prices invariably increase as more and more properties are converted to short term rentals or sold as second homes. If left unchecked, entire communities become shells, populated by an ever rotating cast of AirBnB guests. Those locals that are left face the declining provision of essential, everyday services.
The prices associated with Michelin-starred restaurants raise further social quandaries. How is the average Cumbrian supposed to feel when the county that boasts the most Michelin stars also claims a median annual household income that’s thousands of pounds below the national level?
It is apparent to me that Michelin stars are not the cause of Cumbria’s problems but a symptom. Like all symptoms, they demand attention in an effort to point us towards the underlying issue. But what is a patient to do when told to celebrate their bumps and bruises instead of asking why they got them?