Gallic pride at stake as Italy grows oysters

France, Europe’s biggest oyster grower, supplies 90 per cent of bivalves eaten by Italian enthusiasts. But that may change. With the French oyster industry under fire for its unorthodox health and safety rules and for growing skinny specimens, the Italians are setting up their own oyster farm. Worse still: they think theirs are better. “Our oysters are much more perfumed, they taste more of the sea, which is what oyster lovers want.” Read more.

Russian cash in cognac causes local indigestion

The sight of Russian investors perusing vineyards in the famous Cognac region of southwest France has locals suspicious of their motives and wary of their financial backers. In Russia, where the market for brandy is growing fast, any brandy can be labeled cognac, damaging the reputation of the original French version and compromising its exclusivity.
According to the chairman of the Cognac business association, about ten cognac producers have “made a pact with the devil” by working with the Russians, who he suspects of wanting to use the name to legitimise their fake “cognac” brandy in Russia. Read more.

Muslim women in France regain virginity in clinics

An increasing number of Muslim women in France have their hymen re-sewn, technically making them virgins again. The 30-minute outpatient procedure costs between 1,500 and 3,000 euros. One surgeon says he gets three to five queries and performs one to three hymenoplasties each week. Demand has been rising for the past three or four years.
“Many of my patients are caught between two worlds,” he says. “They have had sex already but are expected to be virgins at marriage according to a custom that he called “cultural and traditional, with enormous family pressure“. Read more.