Food en Francais... (or something in bad Franglish...)
I've been meaning to post this for a while. I was amused to read Jacques Chirac's comments on English food recently (see Guardian Unlimited "Chirac's reheated food jokes bring Blair to the boil" for a report on it) as I visit France probably 5 or 6 times a year and as a vegetarian, how I enjoy eating out in France!
I think Jacques is very much of the old school of dining, where France still holds some premier position in the gastrnomic world and England is a country of over-boiled vegetables and ros-bif. I don't eat in enough Michelin starred restaurants to compare the countries offerings at that level, but further down the scale at the more modest establishments I can afford, I think he is talking out of his derriere. In provincial France, the small towns at best offer a generic pizza place. Now whilst this is admittedly not usually part of a chain, such as the dreaded Pizza Hut and they remain small, independent places, they're hardly even approaching the boundaries of cooking, let alone trying to push them forward. I think the UK has achieved a respectable array of places to eat in most towns I know. The chains can offer some good stuff, places like Carluccio's and Le Petit Blanc in this town for instance. I can't say I've ever stumbled across anything like it in France, and that's before you even look for a vegetarian option.
One time many years ago in France, we were on holiday with Les Milners and went to a restaurant in on the fortified island in Concarneau. Upons asking the Maitre'd what they could do for vegetarians, he looked down his nose and spat out the word "Vegetables!" I know the customer isn't always right, but hey, try and meet us halfway here Jacques.
In a large place you might find vegetarian restaurants but they're all (I've found) to be so holier -than-thou. Nice enough but vegetarian food has so moved on from brown rice stuffed Birkenstock burgers. Compare Au Grain du Folie in Montmatre, Paris with Terre a Terre in Brighton? No brainer. Sorry France, you ain't what you used to be in the culinary world anymore. You've got great quality ingredients (and so you bloody well should with all the EU agricultural hand-outs), great markets but you just haven't moved on in what you do with them. Many years ago in Aix-en-Provence I remember having a bowl of marinated chick peas on a bar as an appetiser. Tasted great but did the restaurant do anything with them? Maybe some hummus as a starter or felafel as a veggie main? Quel surprise mais non. The same old hackneyed standards. Whilst France's standards were better than ours, we've developed and refined them and moved on. Maybe it's insularity, or lack of cultural diversity or maybe our food used to be so bad we had to do something about it, but today, I'd far rather eat out in the UK than in France. Sorry Jacques, tough frites.
I think Jacques is very much of the old school of dining, where France still holds some premier position in the gastrnomic world and England is a country of over-boiled vegetables and ros-bif. I don't eat in enough Michelin starred restaurants to compare the countries offerings at that level, but further down the scale at the more modest establishments I can afford, I think he is talking out of his derriere. In provincial France, the small towns at best offer a generic pizza place. Now whilst this is admittedly not usually part of a chain, such as the dreaded Pizza Hut and they remain small, independent places, they're hardly even approaching the boundaries of cooking, let alone trying to push them forward. I think the UK has achieved a respectable array of places to eat in most towns I know. The chains can offer some good stuff, places like Carluccio's and Le Petit Blanc in this town for instance. I can't say I've ever stumbled across anything like it in France, and that's before you even look for a vegetarian option.
One time many years ago in France, we were on holiday with Les Milners and went to a restaurant in on the fortified island in Concarneau. Upons asking the Maitre'd what they could do for vegetarians, he looked down his nose and spat out the word "Vegetables!" I know the customer isn't always right, but hey, try and meet us halfway here Jacques.
In a large place you might find vegetarian restaurants but they're all (I've found) to be so holier -than-thou. Nice enough but vegetarian food has so moved on from brown rice stuffed Birkenstock burgers. Compare Au Grain du Folie in Montmatre, Paris with Terre a Terre in Brighton? No brainer. Sorry France, you ain't what you used to be in the culinary world anymore. You've got great quality ingredients (and so you bloody well should with all the EU agricultural hand-outs), great markets but you just haven't moved on in what you do with them. Many years ago in Aix-en-Provence I remember having a bowl of marinated chick peas on a bar as an appetiser. Tasted great but did the restaurant do anything with them? Maybe some hummus as a starter or felafel as a veggie main? Quel surprise mais non. The same old hackneyed standards. Whilst France's standards were better than ours, we've developed and refined them and moved on. Maybe it's insularity, or lack of cultural diversity or maybe our food used to be so bad we had to do something about it, but today, I'd far rather eat out in the UK than in France. Sorry Jacques, tough frites.
posted by Bluebear at
4:13 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home