The head of the most important among the selection of Michelin red guides is set to be something that hasn't been the case in 108 years. In fact, not only is the new figurehead a woman but she's from Germany at that.
It's a double whammy for the overtly macho world of the French restaurant kitchen with Juliane Caspar, born in Bochum, being appointed editor of the guide.
A former restaurateur, she has been a Michelin inspector since 2002, and is known to clean her plate rather than pick at pieces of food, and to favour experimental cooking.
There are no known photographs of Caspar, although one has been unearthed of the back of her head in a restaurant kitchen. According to a spokesperson: "you'll never see a picture of her - it would make it impossible for her to do her job".
Guy Savoy, the three-starred Parisian chef said that the appointment "shows a new open-mindedness of spirit", adding that "the number of one, two and three star restaurants in Germany [shows] that they have really come on with their cuisine in the past few years".
That's okay then, although in fact they're still miles behind the number of starred restaurants in France. It will be something of a shock to the system for Caspar having to get around so many in the guide's home country.
What next: another three-starred restaurant in the UK?
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