Safer to eat in restaurants than at home, claims top French chef

PARIS: French superstar chef Alain Ducasse insists that it is safer to eat in restaurants than at home during the coronavirus epidemic.

With restaurants shuttered by lockdowns across the world, Ducasse claimed that it was far riskier to shop and cook at home.

“It´s better to eat in a restaurant that takes all the precautions than at home where you have to go to your little local supermarket where people are bumping into each other, touching the fruit and not everybody is wearing masks,” he told AFP. Ducasse, whose restaurants have 17 Michelin stars — the most of any chef in the world — claimed it made more sanitary sense to eat out.

Restaurants were closed on scientific advice to halt the spread the of the virus and to enforce social distancing.

However, thousands of takeaways in France and elsewhere have remained open, with several top French chefs including Ducasse providing haute cuisine to go.

Ducasse made the safety comments after making the case for a “gradual and responsible” reopening of restaurants in France to President Emmanuel Macron Friday. Ducasse said that Macron had taken his arguments on board, adding that cafes and restaurants could start reopening “between June 2 and 20” if the death toll from the virus continues to fall.