There's nothing more irritating than someone coming back from a holiday abroad and raving (or moaning) about the food.
But I'm going to take the risk, on the grounds that what I observed last week seemed both to contradict what is being said about France losing its way as a gastronomic world leader, while confirming that it's in the grip of an alarming bulge in obesity levels.
I should state that we were in Provence, my destination of choice since I spent a year there as a student. A warm and relatively upmarket departement, it seems to have largely escaped the fate of the cooler, northern regions of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Picardy, Upper Normandy and Champagne-Ardenne, where the prevalence of obesity is 40% higher than the national average of 17% (up from 15% two years ago, with the most significant weight gains in 18 to 24-year-olds).
These unwelcome statistics are causing alarm at the highest level, and proposals to introduce colour-coded nutrition labels on pre-packaged foods, like we have here, are making news headlines. The bulletin I heard urged France to take up this initiative (which shows consumers at a glance how much fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar and energy is in a product) sooner rather than later, "because we don't want to become as bad as Britain, where obesity is over 50%".
Even in a vast agricultural country with such rich gastronomic variations as France, the great nutritional levellers are the supermarkets, just as they are in this country. I used to love foraging in French versions of our own because they were so different and exciting and fresh. But this time around, I was dismayed to find that almost everything - from fromages, viandes, cereales and gateaux - seemed to be mass-produced on such a scale that entire aisles were signposted "produits alimentaires industriels".
Cheap vacuum-packed pizzas, pre-prepared salads and ready meals were much more prominent than previously, and the shelf-space given over to the branded processed cheese La Vache Qui Rit dwarfed that for the kind of fresh artisan products which made French food famous.
Takeaways are also on the increase. According to EuroMonitor, fast food is the fastest growing consumer food service category. One survey says 46% of French people go to fast food restaurants. Most processed and take-out foods contain higher levels of fat, sugar and simple sugars than homemade meals, making them significant factors in the rise of obesity. Do the math.
And here's the contradiction. At restaurants, there's a resurgence of modern, inventive, traditional cooking using fresh regional produce - and at reasonable prices. Many have Michelin Guide Bib Gourmands. There was a deconstructed daube de boeuf (beef stew) with spinach and ricotta cannelloni, pulled haddock with celeriac mousse, a cool scallop carpaccio, a dish of rich ox cheek with mash and salad, confit leg of rabbit with pork belly, pigs' foot tartines, truffle rissotto, a fresh fruit tartare, individual tarte tatin, and so on, for lunch as well as dinner and for downwards of £60 for two.
Streetfood snacks included local socca, a chickpea crepe, and freshly made thin-based pizzas topped with a variety of fresh toppings including proscuitto, rocket, parmesan shavings, drizzled oil. I couldn't help but notice this thrilling mid-market movement is being led by a new generation of passionate young men, both in the kitchen and front-of-house.
Several of the places we ate at were being run by friends who'd trained together and joined forces to "realise our dream". Waiting staff were charismatic, knowledgeable, and clearly enjoying the buzz of serving in their busy restaurants. There was no sense that they were only filling in time between university lectures; it felt more like they were proud to have this job as a career.
Another thing that struck us once again was that babies and young children remain welcome in French family restaurants. Grandfathers would take their baby grandchildren on walkabouts between courses, while older children would run around playing tig-tag between tables; and nobody demurred (except, perhaps, some British tourists). Grown men would spend their entire petits dejeuners discussing last night's meal. This has to be a factor in maintaining the food-based culture of France.
I did see parallels with what's happening here in Scotland, where the vibrant eating-out scene is going from strength to strength with more mid-priced menus using fresh locally sourced produce, and a move towards smaller sharing plates to encourage family and friends to participate in the eating experience.
So, a case of plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose - or allez la France?
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