Anne-Sophie Pic

Anne-Sophie Pic is the daughter of chef Jacques Pic, and grew up at her family's restaurant, Maison Pic. Her grandfather, Andre Pic, was also a chef, who was particularly known for a crayfish gratin dish,[1] and who first gained the restaurant three Michelin stars in 1934.[2] However she initially decided not to follow in their footsteps, and instead travelled overseas to train in management.[1] She worked in Japan and the United States as an intern for various companies, including Cartier and Moët & Chandon,[3] but found herself drawn back to the restaurant for her "passion".[2]

At the age of 23, in 1992 she returned to Maison Pic to train under her father to become a chef. He died three months later, and she moved to working the front of the house. In 1995, the restaurant lost its third Michelin star, for which she felt she had lost "her father's star",[4] and spurred her to return to the kitchen. In 1997, Pic took control of the restaurant.[1] She had no formal training in cooking.[4]

In 2007, she regained Maison Pic's three Michelin stars. This was only the fourth time anywhere that a female chef had achieved three Michelin stars.[1] That same year, Pic was the only woman on French newspaper Le Figaro's list of the top twenty richest chefs in France.[1]

She opened her second restaurant, Restaurant Anne-Sophie Pic, in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was awarded two Michelin stars in 2009, and is located within the Beau-Rivage Palace hotel.[3][5] In September 2012, she opened her first Paris-based restaurant, La Dame de Pic.[4]

Pic is married to David Sinapian and has a son named Nathan.[3][4]

In 2015 and 2016, Pic was a member of the Prix Versailles judges panel.[6]

In 2018, she appeared as a judge on the "France" episode and in the finale of The Final Table, season 1.

In June 2020, she and other chefs, as well as architects, Nobel laureates in Economics and leaders of international organizations, signed the appeal in favour of the purple economy (“Towards a cultural renaissance of the economy”), published in the Corriere della Sera,[7] El País[8] and Le Monde.[9]

In 2011, she received the Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef award, named after Madame Clicquot Ponsardin[10] and given by the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards scheme from British magazine Restaurant. It was the first time the category had been awarded, and it was thought to have been closely fought between Pic, Elena Arzak and Nadia Santini.[2] At the time of the award, Pic was the only three Michelin starred female chef in France.[3]

On 14 July 2011, she was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the French Legion of Honour.[11]

In 2009, Pic received the Eckart Witzigmann Award for excellent culinary art.[12]