French love their cuisine ... and ready meals
By Elaine Ganley |
February 28, 2013, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IN France, eating is supposed to be an art. Foodies from around the globe flock to the world's gastronomic center to discover the true meaning of fine dining - a convivial sharing of dishes, lovingly prepared, which capture the imagination, the taste buds and the essence of the land.
Enter reality.
The Europe-wide uproar over horse meat being sold as beef has exposed a labyrinthine network of companies and countries that trade the meat used in packaged meals. And even the French, it appears, head to the microwave at night after work to zap frozen meals created in far-off factories.
Up to 41 percent of French expenditure for meals goes on factory-prepared dishes and frozen products, France's national statistics agency said in a 2008 report.
"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are," gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote 165 years ago in his treatise on taste.
Today, the French are caught in a contradiction: The pleasure of eating good food still defines them but their busy lives increasingly determine what they eat.
France set the standards long ago and upholds them today with coveted Michelin stars for top chefs and annual "taste weeks" devoted to cultivating a discerning palate for its children. In 2010, the French gastronomic meal was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, the UN's cultural arm.
Deep pockets will still get diners a quality meal at even no-star restaurants, but at home or work it's another story. Gone are two-hour lunches. Traditional bakeries stand in as sandwich shops while supermarkets provide industrially-prepared meals.
"The French need prepared dishes because women work. We don't have time to cook. It's really a change in lifestyle" that began in the 1970s, says Pascale Hebel, director of the consumer affairs department at CREDOC, a research center.
Hebel says France has the highest proportion of households in Europe with working parents and that these markets are growing. "When you have an adolescent at home, you have to leave something to eat, so you leave a prepared dish," she says.
Indeed, the youth of France are propelling this trend, less eating at home, snacking more and relying more on fast food, experts say. Even still, French snacking between meals is more than two times less prevalent than in the United States, according to a report by Celine Laisney, who monitors trends for the French Agriculture Ministry.
Supermarkets - where up to 70 percent of food spending takes place - are also making markets and specialty food shops seem quaint.
"From the moment you have big supermarkets, you have a completely different, new relationship between eating and food," says leading food sociologist Claude Fischler.
Horse meat falsely labeled as beef has turned up in prepared foods across Europe with a French company, Spanghero, at its epicenter. The scandal will have an impact on sales of prepared foods, but likely only in the short term, experts say. Unlike the mad cow disease crisis in the 1990s and the bird flu crisis in the mid-2000s, the horse meat does not pose a health risk.
"It's a matter of disgust," says Fischler. "You've been eating something you were not aware of."
Yet horse meat, which is much cheaper than beef, has been eaten happily for decades by some in France.
Claude Verhoye of Paris says she treasures her memories of eating horse. "When I was young, every Sunday my grandmother made a horse roast," says Verhoye, 64, standing in line at the horse butcher at a Right Bank market. "My daughter rides horses and says you shouldn't do this. I rode horses, too, and it doesn't stop me. I never feel guilty."
Genevieve Cazes-Valette, a marketing professor at the University of Toulouse, who is also a food anthropologist, said the French keep alive the old culinary traditions on the weekends.
"During the week, you eat anything ... Then there is a clear return to pleasure, both at the market, during the preparation and in the degustation" over the weekend, she says.
So despite the horse meat scandal, French retain pride in their cuisine.
"The French continue to think their cuisine is reliable and of better quality than many others," says Cazes-Valette. "In addition, I think it's true."
Enter reality.
The Europe-wide uproar over horse meat being sold as beef has exposed a labyrinthine network of companies and countries that trade the meat used in packaged meals. And even the French, it appears, head to the microwave at night after work to zap frozen meals created in far-off factories.
Up to 41 percent of French expenditure for meals goes on factory-prepared dishes and frozen products, France's national statistics agency said in a 2008 report.
"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are," gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote 165 years ago in his treatise on taste.
Today, the French are caught in a contradiction: The pleasure of eating good food still defines them but their busy lives increasingly determine what they eat.
France set the standards long ago and upholds them today with coveted Michelin stars for top chefs and annual "taste weeks" devoted to cultivating a discerning palate for its children. In 2010, the French gastronomic meal was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, the UN's cultural arm.
Deep pockets will still get diners a quality meal at even no-star restaurants, but at home or work it's another story. Gone are two-hour lunches. Traditional bakeries stand in as sandwich shops while supermarkets provide industrially-prepared meals.
"The French need prepared dishes because women work. We don't have time to cook. It's really a change in lifestyle" that began in the 1970s, says Pascale Hebel, director of the consumer affairs department at CREDOC, a research center.
Hebel says France has the highest proportion of households in Europe with working parents and that these markets are growing. "When you have an adolescent at home, you have to leave something to eat, so you leave a prepared dish," she says.
Indeed, the youth of France are propelling this trend, less eating at home, snacking more and relying more on fast food, experts say. Even still, French snacking between meals is more than two times less prevalent than in the United States, according to a report by Celine Laisney, who monitors trends for the French Agriculture Ministry.
Supermarkets - where up to 70 percent of food spending takes place - are also making markets and specialty food shops seem quaint.
"From the moment you have big supermarkets, you have a completely different, new relationship between eating and food," says leading food sociologist Claude Fischler.
Horse meat falsely labeled as beef has turned up in prepared foods across Europe with a French company, Spanghero, at its epicenter. The scandal will have an impact on sales of prepared foods, but likely only in the short term, experts say. Unlike the mad cow disease crisis in the 1990s and the bird flu crisis in the mid-2000s, the horse meat does not pose a health risk.
"It's a matter of disgust," says Fischler. "You've been eating something you were not aware of."
Yet horse meat, which is much cheaper than beef, has been eaten happily for decades by some in France.
Claude Verhoye of Paris says she treasures her memories of eating horse. "When I was young, every Sunday my grandmother made a horse roast," says Verhoye, 64, standing in line at the horse butcher at a Right Bank market. "My daughter rides horses and says you shouldn't do this. I rode horses, too, and it doesn't stop me. I never feel guilty."
Genevieve Cazes-Valette, a marketing professor at the University of Toulouse, who is also a food anthropologist, said the French keep alive the old culinary traditions on the weekends.
"During the week, you eat anything ... Then there is a clear return to pleasure, both at the market, during the preparation and in the degustation" over the weekend, she says.
So despite the horse meat scandal, French retain pride in their cuisine.
"The French continue to think their cuisine is reliable and of better quality than many others," says Cazes-Valette. "In addition, I think it's true."
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