First French Vegan Restaurant Awarded Michelin Star

A vegan restaurant located near Bordeaux has been awarded a coveted Michelin star. 

ONA is the first vegan restaurant  in France to receive award from Michelin Guide. 

The name ONA  stands for Origine Non-Animale" ("animal-free origin"). The restaurant is located in the town of Arès, near Bordeaux and is run by Claire Vallée.

Claire is a self-taught chef and became vegan after travelling to Thailand. She opened her restaurant in 2016 thanks to money she gained through crowdfunding campaign and ethical funding loans from green banks.

The restaurant serves seven-dish gourmet menu made entirely from plants including pine, boletus mushroom and sake, celery, tonka and amber ale.

ONA also won a green star, which is a special reward for ethical business practices.

"It felt like I got hit by a train," she told the AFP news agency after she received the call from the Michelin Guide.

In Instagram post Claire thanked for all the support.   "It is because you believed in me, in this crazy bet beyond my doubts, my anxieties, my fears, but also thanks to our common work throughout these last four years that today we obtained our first star in the Michelin guide," she wrote

"We will continue on this path because this star is mine, it is yours, it is that of the impossible, it is the one that definitively brings plant-based gastronomy into the closed circle of French and global gastronomy."