Marie Bourgeois (1870-1937) was a French chef who gained three Michelin stars from 1933 to 1937 for her restaurant in

Priay Priay () is a commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. People from Priay are known as ''Priaysiens''. Population See also *Communes of the Ain department The following is a list of the 393 comm ...

in the

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...

region, France.

Biography

Marie Bourgeois was born in Villette-sur-Ain in 1870. In the 1920s, she settled in a modest restaurant with her husband in Priay in the Ain region, 60 kilometers northeast of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. In 1923, Bourgeois was the first woman to receive the award of the

Club des Cent The Club des Cent ("Club of One Hundred") brings together distinguished gastronomes such as Curnonsky, Henri Gault, Christian Millau and Doyon. This club is also known as the Compagnons de Cocagne. As its name indicates, the Club has exactly one ...

. In 1927, she won first culinary prize in Paris and, six years later, in 1933, she received three stars from the Michelin Guide and kept them for four consecutive years. Her best-known recipes were hot pie, fresh frogs and the

floating island A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from several centimeters to a few meters. Floating islands are a common natural phenomenon that are found in many parts of the world. They exist less co ...

with pink pralines. After her death in 1937, her daughter took over her restaurant until 1951.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourgeois, Marie 1870 births 1937 deaths French chefs Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants People from Ain Women chefs Chefs from Lyon