The San Pellegrino Top 50 has been ranking restaurants across the globe since its inception in 2002. The list is labeled “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants,” voted on by “a panel of over 1,000 culinary experts” (Reed n.d.). The 2020 edition has been postponed so the brand can focus “its attention on supporting global recovery” from the pandemic; however, a look back at 2019’s list offers a glimpse into contemporary haute cuisine’s great irony: hyperlocal cuisines supported by globe-trotting customers.

The current top restaurant, Mirazur, is located on France’s Côte d’Azur in Menton, population 29,000, and features “citrus fruit from the Riviera, saffron from Sospel, olive oil and lemons from Menton, wild mushrooms from the surrounding countryside, produce from the Ventimiglia markets, gamberoni prawns from San Remo, locally caught fish, and so on” (Mirazur n.d.). Even a pristine Mediterranean enclave would struggle to support a restaurant...

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