Couscous, burgers, pasta. That’s what millions of French eat…
Welcome to the country where only the happy few can afford to eat in Sarkozy’s favorite restaurant, and up to ten percent of the population eat couscous, 1.2 million go to McDonald’s every day, and the rest is complaining about the soaring prices of… pasta.
In my book, heritage stands for traditions that are carried over from one generation to the next.
I remember from thirty years ago how a French grannie could spend a full day in the kitchen to serve fifteen kids and grandchildren the most delicious bit of country cooking. In those days you could go to a restaurant where there was no menu — you just ate what the chef’s wife had found in the forest that morning, or what he had shot himself the day before. Even less long ago you could buy a baguette that didn’t turn stale within a few hours.
That’s what I call heritage. It has nothing to do with the crazy concoctions by today’s 5-star chefs. That’s not culture — that’s cult. And what’s cultural about the rows of frozen foods in the supermarkets and the tins of William Saurins crap that people eat when they go on holidays?
The idea to attach a world heritage label to French cuisine would have been great in the previous millennium. Today, it’s too late.
Related:
France seeks protection for trademark dishes
Italy challenges French food over UN heritage move
Slow Food guru rubbishes French cuisine’s heritage bid
