A New Platform for People and Their Practices
Mindful Voices was introduced by MICHELIN in 2026 as part of a broader approach extending beyond gastronomy into hospitality and wine.
The initiative focuses on individuals who are developing and putting into practice new ways of working. In gastronomy, this can take many forms: strengthening relationships with local farmers, growing produce, reducing waste, using lesser-known ingredients, preserving regional traditions or creating more circular ways of operating.
Mindful Voices Across the JRE Community
The JRE community is strongly represented among the chefs currently highlighted through the initiative, spanning countries and culinary cultures across Europe.
Different Approaches, a Shared Direction
What stands out is not one single definition of mindful gastronomy, but the diversity of approaches represented across the JRE community.
At Muxgo, Borja Marrero has created a closely connected agricultural and gastronomic ecosystem in Gran Canaria, with much of the restaurant's produce coming from his own farm.
At Ursprung, Andreas Widmann works with a network of more than 40 regional farms, alongside the restaurant's own cultivation of vegetables, fruit and herbs. His approach also includes whole-animal processing and composting kitchen remains.
In Italy, Ernesto Iaccarino draws extensively from the family's Le Peracciole farm for Don Alfonso 1890, while fruit and vegetable waste is composted and returned to the land. Martina Caruso, meanwhile, works with Salina's small-scale fishermen, wild herbs and produce from her family's garden at Signum.
And at Pajta, István Akács places the traditions and ingredients of Hungary's Őrség region at the heart of the restaurant, combining foraged ingredients and produce from the restaurant's garden with an expanding network of local farmers and suppliers.
These are different restaurants, regions and philosophies, but they share an understanding that contemporary gastronomy extends beyond what happens in the kitchen.
Part of the JRE Philosophy
For JRE-Jeunes Restaurateurs, the strong presence of its community within Mindful Voices reflects values that have long been central to the association.
JRE chefs are independent restaurateurs rooted in their regions. Their work is shaped by relationships with producers, local culinary traditions, craftsmanship and the responsibility of carrying those traditions forward while continuing to innovate.
Across the network, that responsibility takes many forms. It can mean cultivating ingredients, working more closely with farmers and fishermen, preserving biodiversity and lesser-known products, finding new uses for by-products, reducing waste or strengthening the communities surrounding a restaurant.
There is no single path.
That is also what makes the JRE voices represented within MICHELIN's new initiative significant. From the Canary Islands to the Slovenian countryside, from Sicily to Austria, their individual stories show how gastronomy can remain deeply connected to place while continuing to evolve.
Together, these Mindful Voices reflect a shared direction: a future of gastronomy shaped not only by what is served on the plate, but by the choices, people and places behind it.
