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The first Black woman chef to lead a restaurant in France to a Michelin Star leaves her signature fedoras at home when she packs her bags to travel the world. Her beloved hats stay safe and protected, but Georgiana Viou takes her culinary brilliance into kitchens from Africa to America.
“I continue to cook around the world wherever I am invited. That’s how I’m here at Dakar NOLA today. This is my way of carrying the message forward, sharing and shining a light on this cuisine that is within me,” says Chef Viou.
In early August, the chef’s culinary adventures took her to New Orleans for an exciting collaboration with Serigne Mbaye, the co-owner of Dakar NOLA. The Senegalese restaurant in New Orleans was named the Best New Restaurant at the 2024 James Beard Awards, No. 6 in North America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 and The Best Restaurant in South USA.
Viou met the Eater New Orleans 2021 Chef of the Year when Mbaye went to Marseille, and she recalls what he said to her. “He came to Rouge to have lunch. He was like, ‘Wow, I really appreciate this time. This food inspires me, and I want you to come to my place.”’
Connecting Culinary Crossroads
They connected again at Dakar NOLA’s Food, Friends & Heritage on Every Plate event held in partnership with Open Table. The sold out, $300 a person dinner on August 5, brought together the talents of two chefs who have blended their cultural crossroads to create exceptional cuisine.
“I moved to France when I was 22. I made my adult life in France, mostly in Marseille. I also have those African and French roots. For Serigne, it is the same thing, but he is from Senegal and I am from Benin,” Chef Viou says.
New Orleans, with its French and African roots made the Benin-born chef feel at home. Mbaye chose the city after being born in Harlem and raised in Senegal. His award-winning tasting menu reflects his fondest memories of cooking in Dakar with his mother.
Chef Viou arrived at the restaurant Mbaye co-owns with Dr. Afua “Effie” Richardson, carrying her own recollections of favorite foods from Benin and France.
“Cooking here, along with Chef Serigne, was like laying the first stone on this bridge that connects our histories, our land and our memories. That’s why it means so much for me to cook here, to come and discover this city and cook with this team,” continues Viou.
“They welcomed me with such warmth and generosity. I have some tears in my eyes because it seems like we knew each other for a long time, you know?”
The chefs discussed the menu before deciding to serve dishes from each of their culinary collections. Mbaye began the dinner by welcoming guests with the Senegalese tradition of serving hot mint tea. Next, Viou presented her ata from Benin, a fritter made with black-eyed peas which is called akara in Senegal, Nigeria and other West African countries.
Dakar NOLA specializes in Senegalese cuisine made with fresh seafood and local produce, so the guests dined on a crab and caviar dish before sampling a bouillabaisse famous in Marseille. Viou and Mbaye collaborated on the next offering, a Senegalese main dish of braised chicken.
“We made the traditional yassa and decided to mix it up. We cooked the chicken whole, made the skin very crispy and added a whole onion. We served the chicken with carrots, rice and condiments from Senegal. You have the flavors of the real yassa, but the presentation is different,” says Viou.
The highlight of cooking with Mbaye and his team came after the French dessert of chocolate cake and ice cream. “My joy came from seeing the smiles on people’s faces. They were like ‘wow’ for everything. And they understood this story about bridges, about connecting Africa to America to France,” shares the highly regarded award-winning chef.
Viou applauds the Dakar NOLA team for an unforgettable experience that brought two voices together and introduced guests to new flavors. “And to hear them say some flavors they didn’t know before and appreciate, and some flavors they know but are discovering another way, it was incredible. Everybody was a part of the success of this moment.”
Georgiana Viou Takes Her Culinary Talents Back to Benin
It was Chef Georgiana Viou’s mastery of Mediterranean cuisine accented with Beninese flavors and ingredients that drew the interest of the Michelin Guide. The dishes she served at Rouge in Nimes, France, won a coveted Michelin Star in 2023, grabbing the world’s attention.
In June, she left the restaurant where she had excelled for four years. The two-time winner of Gault Millau guide toques and the 2021 recipient of the Grand de Demain trophy decided to temporarily take her culinary talents back to Benin.
“I’ve been focused on European cuisine. I want now to be focused on cuisine that draws from French techniques, but not exclusively, while embracing the bold, deep flavors of West Africa. I’m very proud today to represent a contemporary African cuisine with a female voice,” says Chef Viou.
Viou grew up in Cotonou, where her mother owned a popular restaurant. She is knowledgeable about city markets, Benin cuisine and her mom’s cooking techniques. That gave the chef a unique approach to designing the menu for L’Ami at the Sofitel Marina Hotel & Spa.
“In Benin, it is still the same idea of developing a cuisine that bridges West African and French influences. At L’Ami, I cook French but with local ingredients. Also on the menu, I have some recipes typical for Benin, where I add something from France,” she says.
The team Viou trained handles the day-to-day cooking at the fine-dining brasserie . The self-taught chef, respected for Rouge’s Michelin Star, devotes much of her time to encouraging young Africans in Cotonou.
“The thing is to showcase this star, not only by doing some event where I get a check. It is to transmit knowledge in Benin, where I came from, and to push up all the youth that are interested in cooking,” confirms Viou.
Building Bridges with a Michelin Star
Chef Viou’s work at Sofitel in Benin is part of a much larger ambition to build bridges between culinary cultures. She began moving more in that direction as she considered what she wanted her food to represent in the future.
“You need to know where you are coming from to know where you are going. I used to say I’m making soul cuisine. But if I just say it with my mouth, it doesn’t matter. What does soul cuisine mean? My soul is my story and history,” the Benin native explains.
In June of last year, Viou went to a former firehouse in Oakland, California, to tell her story at Bombera, a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand Mexican restaurant. She cooked alongside chef Dominica Rice Cisneros at an event celebrating the diversity of cuisines in Oakland and Marseille.
Rouge’s former chef describes her approach at Bombera. “I cooked bouillabaisse for 150 people. It is not just taking ingredients and putting them together to make something. It is why I am doing this, where does it come from and what does it mean? I try to connect people to that story.”
The renowned chef has also traveled to Scotland, Brazil and Colombia. Her U.S. trips included a return to the 5th Family Reunion at Sheila Johnson’s Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Virginia.
Chef Kwame Onwuachi presented the event through a partnership with Food & Wine’s publisher Dotdash Meredith. The August reunion brings together top culinary talent to promote and support racial and ethnic diversity in the hospitality industry.
Viou’s participation in the Middleburg gathering and her recent collaboration with James Beard semifinalist Mawa McQueen demonstrate her commitment to connecting people from different cultures.
Aspen, Colorado’s Mawa Kitchen is a Michelin Guide restaurant serving Afro-Mediterranean cuisine with French American touches.
“Food is a universal language. Maybe it is the way today to reconnect people to themselves, to stop wars, misunderstandings and sorry for the word, but the BS happening all over the world,” suggests Viou.
Recognizing Black Women’s Michelin Magic
In 1926, the Michelin Guide began awarding stars to restaurants, not individual chefs. Today, Michelin inspectors consider the quality of ingredients, flavor harmony, technique mastery, chefs’ cuisine expressions, and menu consistency when awarding restaurants up to three stars.
Restaurants led by three Black women chefs have earned one-star recognition from Michelin. They are Mariya Moore-Russell, Viou and Adjejoke Bakare.The star awarded to London’s Chishuru restaurant made Nigerian chef Bakare the first Black woman in the U.K. to receive such an honor.
“We’re going to cook together at the end of August. She’s coming to Benin. My father was from Nigeria. I didn’t know my father a lot, so it means a lot for me to cook with this lady and create bridges with another country,” adds Viou.
Ironically, neither Michelin stars nor her celebrity as a Black female chef mattered much to Viou before Rouge’s recognition. “I never thought I would have a Michelin, so it was a special day. It is one of the days I will never forget in my life. I was not thinking about having a gastronomic or fancy restaurant. I was just about having a place where people could come and eat in a comfortable place.”
At first, Viou disliked people mentioning that she is the first Black African woman chef to receive Michelin recognition in France. “You have so many people looking for this recognition, and they don’t have it. In the beginning, I was always saying, ‘Why do you want me to talk about my skin color? Why do you want me to talk about where I am from? It’s just about cuisine and cooking,” the chef admits.
That viewpoint changed as Viou realized that she and other Black chefs in Michelin-starred restaurants had achieved breakthroughs that mattered. “Now, I understand that it is important because when I changed my job to become a cook, no chefs in France looked like me. So, today, it’s a simple thing to say, ‘Hey girl. You have people like you.’”
Viou now embraces the magic of being a Michelin first and the powerful light it shines on Black chefs and their culinary contributions. However, her passion for cooking was her primary motivation for leaving a career as a foreign language interpreter for on-the-job training in professional kitchens.
“I love everything in cooking. I love the beginning, the middle and the end,” says the Michelin chef. “Cooking is not just a pan with some ingredients. Our job is something larger. It is a real experience.”
The Nimes resident expresses how the love of cooking compels her to greet restaurant guests at the beginning of service, so she can see who she is preparing a meal for and say hello. “When it is about cooking, I forget everything. I forget my knee pain, the timing and everything. It is very special.
The 48-year-old chef compares her vocation to acting in a stage play night after night. “Even if you are cooking the same plate every day, each day you have to be focused because some things can happen, and it will be a nightmare. Every day is a new experience,” Viou states.
RELATED: Adejoké Bakare’s Vision for Chishuru in London Lands Michelin Stardom
Spotlighting Africa’s Culinary Gems
In between her travels to build culinary bridges, the chef is also pursuing a new venture. She plans to open a restaurant in Marseille. “This will be a cuisine combining French technique with African flavors. I hope to only use local products. We have some products that you couldn’t find in France until now.”
Chef Viou favors the use of innovation to improve traditional recipes. She likes to use modern techniques and equipment to reduce cooking time and increase options, without erasing the spirit of the original dish. For example, she might use a food dehydrator to dry fruits and vegetables or add a natural thickener to freeze ice cream faster.
“Everything for me is common sense. I am not the kind of cook that needs to make a smoke that tastes like a pizza,” Viou declares. “I cannot say that I am trying to spread a message and then destroy everything so that people are lost. No, I have to keep the essence of the cuisine I’m fighting for.”
Chasing Michelin recognition is not part of the chef’s strategy for winning over more fans with cuisine celebrating flavors from West Africa. Although she would welcome the respected guide’s approval of her new restaurant, Viou hopes her cooking in France and Benin will put a spotlight on Africa’s culinary gems.
“In two or three years, I hope to make so much noise that they have to come and visit. I hope the people at Michelin will be interested in what we are doing there and come and visit us,” she says.
Chef Viou is not alone in noticing the absence of Michelin stars or other prestigious awards for restaurants on the African continent. Mastercook Africa producer Abigail Mbuze wrote about it in a 2023 article for Amazons Watch Magazine.
“From Cape to Cairo, all across Africa, our local cuisine is fresh, organic and deliciously served in the most ingenious ways. What needs to be done to get the global foodie’s community interested in our local cuisine?” said Mbuze.
Outside of the continent, six African chefs are at the helm of Michelin-rated restaurants. In 2021, Mory Sacko’s Mosuke became the first African-owned establishment in France to win a Michelin Star for West African-influenced cuisine. The other chefs in France are Viou and South African Jan Hendrik van Westhuizen.
In London, managing director Iré Hassan-Odunkale’s Ikoye has two Michelin Stars. Michelin’s London inspectors gave one star to Adejoké Bakare’s Chishuru and to Aji Akokomi and Ayo Adeyemi’s Akoko restaurant.
This year, three South African restaurants made the World’s Best list. The International Restaurant Awards placed Tanzania’s Neela Collection and South Africa’s Level Seven among the world’s top places to eat.
Still, Chef Viou and others argue that Africa is long overdue for being included in Michelin Guide recognition and other prominent culinary competitions. “We need that visibility. We need some folks who understand that we also have a story and a history to tell.”
A Michelin Star Story Told
Chef Viou’s Michelin Star book, “Oui, Cheffe ! Du Bénin à l’étoile Michelin, itinéraire d’une battante,” was published in March. An English translation of “Yes, Chef! From Benin to the Michelin Star: Journey of a Fighter” will be released in the coming months.
The chef is also the author of two cookbooks, “Ma cuisine de Marseille” and “Le goût de Cotonou – Ma cuisine du Bénin.” Whatever attention and accolades Viou receives today are part of the arsenal she will use to help others shine.
“For me today, how I can showcase and celebrate this star is this work to create bridges between France, Africa and other countries. That is the importance that I am giving this star today,” says Viou.
The mother of three dreams of opening a Beninese pastry shop with her daughter and two sons someday. She knows that idea and her new Marseille restaurant will demand the same determination and culinary excellence that earned Rouge a Michelin Star.
“You just have to follow your dreams. When you fall down, you just have to find the energy, push on your legs and breathe again, Chef Viou advises. “But you have to be focused, smart and work hard. If you are not a hard worker, nothing will happen for you.”
