Blogs and Stories
How America Killed French Cuisine
“There’s a crisis, but during crises, people do a lot of soul-searching,” says David Lebovitz, pastry chef, Parisian transplant and author of The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious—and Perplexing—City (Broadway, May 2009). “You die or you have a revolution. It’s a lot like what’s going on in the auto industry in America right now—it’s been clear that a problem was brewing, but now it’s come to a head. A lot of places may close, but they may deserve to. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next five years.”
Steinberger agrees—and even sees signs of a surging backlash.
“Young chefs like Pascal Barbot are leading the way with ventures like Astrance,” he says. “He is incredibly talented and he refuses to be handcuffed by French traditions, drawing influences from all over the world. It’s not over yet—France just has to wake up to what’s being lost. Sarkozy is shaking things up economically. He loosened the 35-hour work week and finally reduced the value-added tax to 5.5 percent—we’ll see if restaurants will pass the savings on to customers.”
If economic factors change significantly enough to lure diners away from their Filet-O-Fish, they will find a gaggle of enthusiastic toques at the ready, says Alexander Lobrano, Gourmet magazine’s European correspondent and the author of Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 102 Best Restaurants (Random House, 2008).
“An amazingly talented new generation of chefs with haute-cuisine training decided to open bistros instead of traditional ‘fancy’ French restaurants,” Lobrano wrote via email. “The trend began in 1994 when Yves Camdeborde opened La Regalade. Camdeborde had trained with Christian Constant at Les Ambassadeurs, the grand gastronomic table of the Hotel de Crillon, and so he had the background to do haute cuisine. Instead, he put a haute-cuisine spin on the traditional bistro dishes of his native southwest (he’s from Pau), and this riff reinvented the bistro for a new generation.”
But, unlike the Paris of the 1960s and '70s, when getting a bad meal was as likely as getting good service, diners will have to seek these chefs out.
Plus: Check out Hungry Beast, for more news on the latest restaurants, hot chefs, and tasty recipes.
Kathleen Willcox is a freelance writer and a student at the Institute of Culinary Education.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Kathleen Willcox is a freelance writer and a student at the Institute of Culinary Education.
In the midst of an historic economic crisis the DB is whining about the food in Paris!
yes, because the daily beast exists solely to post articles about the economic crisis.
quite frankly, i'm tired of hearing about it [the economic crisis, that is] and reading YOUR whining about other whining is just obnoxious.
if you don't have something nice [or at least constructive] to say, keep it to your self.
San Francisco is the best place to eat. :).
It is spelt " Languedoc ".
And, again : it's " Montmartre ".
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What makes Sternberger a expert of French economics? I admire the French for maintaining their 35 work week. Hard to compete, yes, but there is more to life than slaving away 40 for the corporate overlords. I guess that is the way to keep politicians in check, having had history of removing the heads of the abusers.
How old ARE you, sweetheart? You speak as though you actually have marked the decline of French food in Paris. Surprisingly, Paris, just like any other city on the planet, will have a range of good and bad food available at a range of prices. Get out of your idealist world, Platonette.
This article offers a view of humanity's loopier side--the part that mindlessly dives after the latest trend or supposed cost-cutting measure without thinking first, often with disastrous results.
Just when the US is painfully beginning to realize, "Wait! We're really fat and unhealthy! This possibly has something to do with our food!", others seem to be saying, "Wow! Soft white bread and Cheez-Wiz are really tasty!"
But for it to be happening in France! It's enough to make you cry.
I can tell you that chefs and other entrepreneurs do not work 35 hours in France.
What planet is this woman on? Paris still has great food, and cuisine has grown by leaps/bounds in the US over the past 15 years (which has been great fun...except for the explosion of vile, flaccid sushi at every grocery store and gas station...lol!)
So much for McDs "ruining" France...if you think McDs is awful, just try one of the French fast-food chains...Ugggggh, beyond scary. No wonder McDs has done so well :O) Don't be such a snot -- there's plenty of baguette and chevre to go around still.
Yes, it's true many Americans are grotesquely obese
due in part to their own individual decisions
to actually enter fast food joints, and eat that garbage.
But please,
it's so predictable that a bunch of snobs would make
references to the worst American " Food. " if you
actually consider Cheeze Wiz, soft white bread,
and Freedom Fries " Food. "
It sounds like a weak generalization
expressed by snobs looking for any reason
to make sweeping negative generalizations
about anything American, so they can
show the rest of us how much more
sophisticated they are.
Get over yourselves.
American Restaurants, NOT fast food chains,
are better than they have ever been, with more choices than ever.
Also, California wine in many cases is considered
as good as the French, which cuts into the French market.
The French and their tradition of great cuisine will carry on,
despite the infiltration of MacDonald's.
Why does one have to be labeled a snob to bemoan the fall of a great cuisine? How snarky and frankly, bitchy of you. This is the author's opinion, and you are quite free not to read it.
I to have been to Paris recently and in fact, also discovered terrible food. Its easier to find great food outside of Paris, however.
The cafe's are closing all over France for a variety of reasons, many of which have to do with a changing culture; less smoking, a switch from wine to hard liquor among young people, people switching from conversation to the internet, more women working, etc. But the government doesn't make to add gas to the flame, that is for sure!
I just re read your post and have to ask:
Why do you feel so badly about yourself that when a person who has traveled and expresses an opinion about it, it makes you conclude that they mean to "show the rest of us how much more sophisticated they are."
That is not a healthy way to have a conversation.
Brilliant article. I also blogged on this topic -- based on my six years in Paris -- and included a link to this article.
www.rebeccaclayhaynes.blogspot.com
Did a big, bad American corporation hold a gun to some french counterpart's head and force them to put a McDonald's on one of their most famous streets? There is no fast food on Fifth Avenue next to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Is it really, once again, the fault of America that they have (according to you) bad cheese and poor quality breads? I have been to Paris 3 times in the past 3 years and just got back from that great city a week ago. I have had some fantastic duck, great cheese, foire gras, fresh fish and desserts that were so good and beautiful I will remember them forever. I went to Mcdonald's on Champs-Elysees to use their bathroom with my son. Do you also blame the fact that French women do not dress as well as they used to on the fact that some American women go out in sweats or tennis clothing? Yes, our great country is guilty of some things but accusing us of giving french men love-handles and crappy bread is a bit much.
How could this journalist have the "best baguette of her life" at the Poilane Bakery when Poilane has never, ever made a single baguette since opening its doors in 1932? What happened to responsible journalism? I live in Paris and agree with a LOT of what is being said, but although an interesting read, and probably mostly true, how can the other facts be believed? Grrrr.
Poil�ne doesn't make baguettes! Just big country loaves.
This whole thing is so shoddy, I don't even know where to begin.
Thank you.
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