French Food Guides - Part III

[John Talbott]

Claude Lebey's Bistroit guide - Le Petit Lebey for 2005 gave his Bistro of the Year award to La Table Lauriston, coordinates already posted, which is a bit of a surprise to me because it (once again) blurs the distinction between a bistro and resto.

He also notes that the French are (1) eating lighter dishes, ie no more parslied ham and (2) drinking less wine. On a related note, the wine growers are furious that the amount of money the Ministry of Agriculture has offered them for declining sales (they also overproduced) is too little.

[Bux]

. . . the French are (1) eating lighter dishes, ie no more parslied ham and (2) drinking less wine.

←

I've been reading a manuscript that deals largely with the boom in California wine in the last half of the 20th century. Although the intersting story is about the sucessful attempts to make fine wines, the book deals with the things that led a wide variety of people from all walks of life, many of whom did not grow up in a wine drinking atmosphere or family, to pursue an interest in wines. A brief or extended stay in Europe either serving in the armed forces or traveling on business or pleasure, was one of the greater influences. Of course there were others as well.

I'm part of a generation that "discovered" Europe in time to be educated in the ways of cooking by Julia Child. Like Columbus, we were fascinated by the natives and their lifestyle. Unlike Columbus, we were seduced and captured by the way of life and sought to convert, not make converts. We came home and drank inexpensive red wine with everymeal. Adopting the lifestyle of a French, Italian or Spanish peasant made us feel so much more sophisticated than our parents who may have had a shot of whisky now and then or nursed cocktails through a restaurant meal. The book in fact, mentions the liesurely dining aspect of European life as a great influence on some to leave city jobs and head for the hills and there is mention of both the camaraderie of these winemakers and the dinners they shared.

This seems to becoming a way of life, not of a place, but of a time. The French spend less time at the table, eat lighter and drink far less wine. Wine is for special occasions more and more. Even special meals are had in less liesurely settings. Important chefs such as Robuchon, Savoy and Dutournier have opened restaurants with counter seating in Paris in the past year or so.

[John Talbott]

. . . the French are (1) eating lighter dishes, ie no more parslied ham and (2) drinking less wine.

←

I've been reading a manuscript that deals largely with the boom in California wine in the last half of the 20th century.

This seems to becoming a way of life, not of a place, but of a time.

←

Bux - two comments; the articles here cite the California proliferation but also (at least in the non-French market) the proliferation of good Italian, Spanish, Argentinian, Chilean, Australian, Kiwi, South African etc wines on the world market. I'm amazed when I walk in a UK place to see the range.

Second I ate at a v fancy place yesterday in the 8th (details later) and

1. almost everyone was in a coat and tie

2. almost everyone ordered 1 or 2 dishes

3. almost everyone was in and out in 59 minutes.

But it distresses me to see 20-30-40 year olds on the Metro and Buses eating sandwiches.

[Bux]

I don't count the proliferation of wines as a bad sign, although it may be said that while the new world is offering new labels, it's not offering more choice. The wineries are often large and if we can talk about enormous effects of few critics, such as Robert Parker, we're seeing more wines, but fewer that are unique.

There's something very unappealing about eating on a subway, but I am American to the core in my love of eating on the street. If my wife didn't put her foot down, I don't think I'd pass a patisserie without making a purchase and finishing before we hit another patisserie. I always enjoy being in a culture that supports street food vendors. France is not good in this way, and is getting worse in that there's now a lot you can buy from shop windows and stands, but it's not the quality stuff of yesteryear.

I do not put a coat and tie on to eat one or two courses. At the very minimum it's four and it should be five plus canapés and mignardises. Everything else is a snack.

[John Whiting]

This seems to [be] becoming a way of life, not of a place, but of a time.

←

Our eating is being inexorably altered in much the same ways as our listening, our reading, our travelling and every other aspect of our lives. Carlo Petrini has showed us, in his Slow Food model, how to invent expandable social structures which bring together like-minded people wishing to preserve threatened traditions. They won't change the world, but they can create functioning time/space capsules within which the inexorable can at least be held back for a few moments. In the quasi-optimistic words of Ezra Pound, "two or three about the temples were enough to keep alive the old religions".

[Bux]

This seems to [be] becoming a way of life, not of a place, but of a time.

←

Our eating is being inexorably altered in much the same ways as our listening, our reading, our travelling and every other aspect of our lives. Carlo Petrini has showed us, in his Slow Food model, how to invent expandable social structures which bring together like-minded people wishing to preserve threatened traditions. They won't change the world, but they can create functioning time/space capsules within which the inexorable can at least be held back for a few moments. In the quasi-optimistic words of Ezra Pound, "two or three about the temples were enough to keep alive the old religions".

←

Yes, but Pound was rather narrow minded about which temples and which religions should be kept alive and not unwilling to support a new order of his choice. At any rate, I am not here supporting or mourning the changes in the way the world lives, but I am willing to note the naivety, if not hypocrisy of adopting someone else's lifestyle as youngsters rebelling against the style of their parents. Today, I'm less apt to want to live the way someone lives in some other place or has lived in some other time. I am able to synthesize my own patterns without necessarily feeling out of time or place, but also without suggesting others follow my style.