Forks in the Road

A cultural history of the Michelin Guide—and how a tire-selling scheme revolutionized food, France, and fine dining as we know it.

The Michelin star is the most recognizable, prestigious, bitterly coveted honor in all of dining. It's known to drive restaurants to the brink of perfection, hordes of tourists to their doors, and their ambitious chefs to madness. But the Michelin Guide began as a commercial enterprise that had little to do with food.

In Forks in the Road, Nina Caplan travels through France to trace its origins back to the French brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin and the invention of the replaceable rubber tire in 1891. With it, modern vehicular tourism was born—along with an ability to travel to faraway restaurants as destinations in their own right. With the first Michelin Guide in 1900, followed by the introduction of the restaurant-focused Guide and star system in 1926, French diners hit the road, from Paris south down Route Nationale 7 and through the countryside in search of trip-worthy dining experiences.

Set at the intersection of gastronomy, epicurean travel, and French culture, Forks in the Road is an indulgent tour through the history of the Michelin Guide and the rise of the destination restaurant—and where they can take us from here.