Interview: Jean-Michel Gauffre, restaurateur

'WHERE I grew up we thought vegetarianism was a disease," Jean-Michel Gauffre confesses, lowering his voice so as not to be overheard by the lunchtime diners lingering into the afternoon at his popular Old Town restaurant, La Garrigue. "A lot of people in France would think that if you were vegetarian you were just not well…" he chuckles, adding a good-humoured Gallic shrug.

It's a fairly traditional view for a French gourmand, but it's also one view that Gauffre, an award-winning chef-proprietor specialising in fare from his native Languedoc region where cassoulet, confit duck, roast rabbit and snails are eaten daily, has dramatically revised in the past few months.

Having recently celebrated the eighth anniversary of La Garrigue with a typically hearty Bastille Day dinner, he is about to open a second fine-dining establishment in Edinburgh which is 100 per cent vegetarian – including the carefully collated wine list, of which more later. And with L'Artichaut, a 35-cover restaurant due to open this month on the New Town site recently vacated by Duck's at Le March Noir in Eyre Place, the owner is confident he can win new customers, because meat-free dining is, he claims, the way forward in the current climate.

"The demand for vegetarian food is definitely growing," Gauffre says confidently. "That doesn't mean there are more vegetarians about, though, just that more diners are looking at alternatives to eating meat and fish on a regular basis."

His chef at L'Artichaut is Belinda Woollett, 27, an Australian whom Gauffre admits to having poached from the Tower, James Thompson's acclaimed restaurant above the Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street, after they met by chance and got chatting about their professional aims. "I hope Mr Thompson will forgive me," he twinkles. So naturally avuncular is he, it's hard to imagine anyone holding a grudge. But that's not to say his mind isn't as sharp as a Sabatier knife.

Gauffre has astutely picked up on a burgeoning trend, one which reflects not only our current urge to spend less while still enjoying regular meals out, but also to be more concerned about our dietary health, responsible farming and the environment.

Long-time vegetarian Sir Paul McCartney has recently appealed to both Britons and Americans to adopt "meat-free Mondays" as a way of reducing our carnivorous consumption, and last week the animal-rights organisation Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wrote to US president Barack Obama, asking him to join Sir Paul's campaign and show support.

In the Food Standards Agency report Public Attitudes to Food 2009, 3 per cent of the 3,200 Britons surveyed described themselves as "completely vegetarian", with 5 per cent claiming to be "partly vegetarian". Their 2008 figures revealed 1 per cent of Scots to be vegetarian, compared with 2 per cent the previous year, but Gauffre is confident that meat-free meals are once again starting to rise in popularity here. "The problem is that in a lot of Scotland's traditional and fine-dining restaurants and hotels the vegetarian dishes are just an afterthought," he says. "They'll offer maybe one or two choices and that's it.

"There are a couple of vegetarian restaurants here in Edinburgh, for example David Bann – always busy – and Black Bo's, which are doing a very good job," Gauffre, unfailingly polite, is quick to stress, "but I've been looking around, talking to people, and there's definitely room for another one. There's a big gap in the market." That market was worth almost 740 million in 2008, according to Mintel, which has this year reported a 20 per cent growth in meat-free eating across the UK since 2004 and predicts a similar increase over the next half-decade.

In terms of quality, Gauffre is aiming high with L'Artichaut. "We want to get two rosettes, at least, in the local and national restaurant guides, and to go for awards." He already holds a clutch of certificates and guidebook commendations, including Scotland the Best, and is a member of the Academy of Culinary Arts.

His plan is to take the vegetarian restaurant experience upmarket, as David Bann has also succeeded in doing, beyond the realm of the pasta, risotto and omelette menu choices that non-meat eaters have come to expect with depressing regularity. Diners at L'Artichaut will be mulling over the likes of asparagus and baby leeks with wild herbs and egg sauce, roast celeriac and bell courgette filled with wild mushrooms, and chickpeas socca with spinach, walnut and figs. These are just three examples of flesh-free, seasonal dishes which Gauffre has introduced to La Garrigue's menu in recent months in order to gauge customer response, and he reckons it will not only be vegetarians that want to try them. Where better to test (by stealth) the appeal of meat-free recipes than among those who regularly order meat and fish, after all?

"We tried a couple of vegetarian-only evenings at La Garrigue and they went well," Gauffre says – though he admits that, when he first advertised them, his regular customers "thought it was a bit strange". Nevertheless, many of those who gave the experimental evenings a whirl said they were pleasantly surprised and may well be seen at L'Artichaut when it opens. It will not, however, be another traditional French restaurant.

"It's not going to be at all like La Garrigue," Gauffre says cryptically, adding, "there will be a bit of a French twist, though – only a light one."

As for the decision to expand during a recession, he says: "It is a big financial risk, without any doubt. But at the same time it's another way of generating revenue while times are tough and it enables me to keep the staff that I already have. We'll be able to run both businesses with a core of people; my staff have said they're happy to work across both restaurants."

While Scots diners haven't quite lost their taste for the good life, Gauffre – who left his native France to move to Scotland some 30 years ago – is frank about the fact that over the past year his customers have been shelling out less. "People are still coming through the doors, yes, but the average spend is down compared to last year, especially on wines. Customers will order a 13 bottle rather than a 20 one. And more people are asking about special offers and discounts, too, which they didn't do in the past.

"It's getting more challenging for us as a business, because food costs are getting higher and, of course, we still pay the same staff costs whether we are cooking with meat and fish or only vegetables."

Even so, cutting meat and fish out of the equation will enable Gauffre to keep main-course prices down to a maximum of 12- 14, he says, while not compromising on the quality of ingredients or preparation. "Until we get to the Italian white truffle season," that is.

The wines served at L'Artichaut will all be either vegetarian or vegan and of a quality to match the food. "Some really exciting choices," says the owner, though he has had to look beyond his beloved Languedoc vineyards for the first time in eight years. The majority of bottles will be French, but they'll be joined by special selections from Italy, Spain and South America.

It's clear that this canny restaurateur has done much research and planning in order not only to survive, but to thrive in the depths of a recession. Even his own wife – Karen, a Scot by birth – and family have had to forfeit Sunday roasts at home in favour of vegetarian dinners.

His two grown-up sons, both in their twenties and with well-trained palates, have been grumbling about it, their father says. So is it fair to say they won't be among his most faithful customers at L'Artichaut? " No," he laughs, "not unless one of them gets a girlfriend who's a vegetarian!"

Big challenges all round, then. But Jean-Michel Gauffre's view is optimistic as well as pragmatic in the face of a risky venture. "Looking at the long term, we'll be ready when the good times come back," he says. "And you've got to be confident that they will come back, otherwise it wouldn't be worth doing anything."

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

WHILE some thinkers as early as Plato advocated meat-free eating, until only a few decades ago, vegetarianism was still viewed widely as a diet for cranks – hence the name of Cranks, the famous London vegetarian restaurant which first opened in Carnaby Street in 1961.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, vegetarians were often associated with radical groups such as the suffragettes, although high-profile meat-eschewers included Mahatma Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw. It wasn't until the 1980s that vegetarianism started moving into the mainstream, partly due to the influence of high-profile campaigners such as Paul and Linda McCartney, and by 1999 the UK vegetarian food market exceeded 400 million in value.

Scotland has its own vegetarian history: the Scottish Vegetarian Society held its founding meeting in Glasgow in 1892. In Edinburgh, Henderson's vegetarian restaurant appeared in Hanover Street soon after its shop opened in 1962 as an outlet for East Lothian farm vegetables, while the Edinburgh haggis-makers MacSween first started to produce a vegetarian variety in 1984.

Today, the capital can boast numerous vegetarian restaurants such as David Bann, Black Bo's, Susie's Diner and the community-based Engine Shed in St Leonard's Lane, as well as the long-standing Kalpna and Annpurna Asian restaurants.