France launches campaign to counter "anglo-saxon plot to dethrone it"

[Pickles]

Torygraph article (open in a private/incognito window)  :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11303443/France-launches-campaign-against-British-plot-to-dethrone-it-as-worlds-food-capital.html

Apparently French govt. officials are concerned

that English-speaking nations are denigrating French cuisine to such an

extent that a counter-attack is vital. Really? Paranoid?

But at least they recognise that there is a need for improvement when 70% of French restaurants are serving what Dave on this forum has described as pre-plated Brake Bros food.

[AnOther]

After living here for over 7 years I've yet to find much evidence of the fabled French cuisine.

Maybe they had it once but time and tide stand still for no one and if they need a kick in the ego to buck up then so be it, all the better if it comes from the UK !

[NormanH]

Strange I eat French cuisine every day....

[idun]

We never ever had many half decent restaurants near us and when we did find a good one, the chefs would move on. Friends would drive up to two hours to go to a decent meal. My son is a 'chef', trained in France and he despairs of the restos near him, last time they went to a 'good' one it was expensive and rubbish. Truthfully, it is even hard to get a good fondue savoyarde in the Alpes, many bad ones, but good ones, hard to find.

I am rather surprised that those 'anglo saxon' basques are upsetting the french though........ who would have thought[Www]

ps those photos of meals you post NH always look excellent.

pps we have had trouble getting good meals in many parts of France, never mind in the region we lived in.

[Frederick]

Where I spend my time in France ,,,,,,fresh cooked food is everywhere...provided you stick with Moules and Frites or Pizza

[idun]

I must admit, I love good pizzas in France. We know a pizzaiolo who makes the most wonderful wonderful pizzas. He left the resto he worked for and has a van now. I sadly admit that I have only managed to find one good pizzeria in the UK.  Best moules frites I have had, have been in Belgium and a close second, Holland, not France.

[AnOther]

[quote user="NormanH"]Strange I eat French cuisine every day....

[/quote]Fabled Norman, fabled !

[Chancer]

[quote user="Frederick"]Where I spend my time in France ,,,,,,fresh cooked food is everywhere...provided you stick with Moules and Frites or Pizza[/quote]

The height of gastronomy around here is proudly displayed on the sign outside many establishments...........................

Frites fraiches [:P]

And the once a year never to be missed village culinary extravaganza that is sold out a year in advance........................

Soirée Patates [:P]

You can see that good cuisine is not appreciated by the great unwashed around here.

Going a bit further afield I used to do cooking lessons with a group at the home of a retired top chef and they were very very good, and we would all eat the meal together afterwards, even he had written a book called Cuisine d'assemblage many years back:

http://www.amazon.fr/Lionel-Sannier/e/B00DDDBD8Y

I learnt a lot from this guy, the biggest lesson was not to eat at another French restaurant until I could afford to pay €300 per person without breaking a sweat and then choosing the establishment carefully.

Apart from a couple of on the road refuelling stops at Flunch I have stuck by his advice.

[idun]

 And not a mention of betterave Chancer? As the Gare TGV Haute Picardie is the Gare des Betteraves....... or so I have been led to believe........  surely this legume is eaten in the region?

And usually Flunch is OK, it is what it is and I've never been ill after eating there and I prefer it to McDo's for a quick meal.

[YCCMB]

Perhaps France would do better to get over itself and realise it's not a competition?

At the end of the day, people are going to eat (in or out) in the country in which they live. For better or worse, there are only a tiny handful of folk who can hop a plane in order to eat in luxury at the finest restaurants in the world, and it isn't them , or the restaurants they frequent, who will dictate how the world in general sees fine dining.

I've eaten well in France, and I've eaten incredibly badly. Likewise in the UK. However, I can't ever recall making a decision to visit a country - any country - for its food.

In the manner of most under 30's, I'm inclined, when reading this sort of piffle, to just say "yeah, whatever".

[idun]

I have never especially travelled to another country 'just' for the food either.

However, I am trying to think of one french person I know who hasn't got some sort of pride about 'french cuisine'............ the ' on mange bien en France ' syndrome.

And I doubt that no matter the survey or polls, I could get anyone to accept that it is other than they want to believe....... and belief is very powerful.

Add to that the still general belief that les anglais mange la me r de and one has it all covered. My son's girlfriend went to her doctor's just after their visit here last year and the first thing that the dr said that he supposed that she had eaten very badly en Angleterre. Fortunately, she hadn't and was disinclined to listen to 'rubbish'.

[CSV]

[quote user="idun"]

However, I am trying to think of one french person I know who hasn't got some sort of pride about 'french cuisine'............ the ' on mange bien en France ' syndrome.

[/quote]

But isn't that the same for everything in France for a French person?

"Why do I need to go / eat / buy anywhere but France, this country is the best in the world for everything"

[powerdesal]

I have dined in some top restaurants around the World - not bragging at all, it's just a fact.

I have also dined in some places that most people would walk past with a shudder.

I have had food poisoning ( real, proper food poisoning, not just an iffy tummy ) twice......both times were after dining out in France.!!!!!!

The myth of French cuisine being magnificent is just that - a myth.

[NormanH]

Good to see so much evidence and detail being provided in the replies in this thread.[:D]

[idun]

But NH I do envy you those meals when you post photos. I always hope that the cuisine is a 'fine' as it looks.

Last time I was back, the best my friends, after a bit of a mess up, could suggest locally was one of those patate restaurants, it was OK, but a bit expensive and I never imagined going out in France to eat a jacket potato.... actually, we had booked into a Balladin, but when we got there, they said that they hadn't got the reservation........ which just goes to show how 'good' restaurants were in our area, if the Balladin was over booked, it was the only place which was full.

[Alan Zoff]

Disappointing restaurant in our French village - the meat and fish are fine but lucky to get more than tinned tomatoes or beans as vege. However, there's an excellent, reasonably priced restaurant 5 minutes away by car which makes up for it.

We tend to fare best when eating home-cooked meals with French friends. No shortage of skills there.

I'm getting a bit fed up with the unnecessary frills with "Masterchef cooking" in the UK. Presentation seems to have taken over, with diners prepared to pay ridiculous sums to have the latest fad delivered with such precision that one TV chef was measuring his portions with a ruler. And it's spreading to ordinary restaurants.

I ate recently at a place that has always served very good, attractive meals. They now feel obliged to give you a smear of brightly-coloured paste with each dish, more often than not accompanied by some foam. These add to the bill rather than to the meal. The smear was so thinly applied that I thought at first it was part of the plate pattern, which it might as well have been for all the taste it provided.

[idun]

I have never been served foam, but I actually think that it looks like some particularly nasty stuff one sees next to a manky pond, and would revolt me. I hate that swirl of brown stuff that they were so fond of putting on plates to decorate in France (never had that in the UK, yet), no idea what it is, a balsamic emulsion ?????????? no idea, not nice though.

I can cook, I can cook well, but service is lousy chez moi, IF I have to put it on the plates, it stands more chance of ending up on the table. My husband, on the other hand, believes in food looking as well as tasting beautiful and IF he cooks, which he does, then one not only has a lovely meal, BUT it is usually quite something to behold.

[Chancer]

[quote user="idun"]But NH I do envy you those meals when you post photos. I always hope that the cuisine is a 'fine' as it looks.

Me too, it looks great

Last time I was back, the best my friends, after a bit of a mess up, could suggest locally was one of those patate restaurants, it was OK, but a bit expensive and I never imagined going out in France to eat a jacket potato.... [/quote]

The restaurant in Amiens that does the biggest trade is à la patâterie, the whole meal, entree, plat (which of course is a potato) and dessert is served on one tray with moulded sections, the food is slopped on like in a prison, the hot food touching the cold dessert, when you have finished you empty the tray into a bin like in Macdo's the bloke behind it washes it and its given to the next inmate to have his slop served on.

There used a to be a quite nice brasserie 2 doors down from me, the menu du jour was simple but well cooked and good value, the owners were my first neighbours and friends and were to be my first inkling of how nice an act the locals can put on all the time they are taking advantage of you and how vicious they become when you finally Wise up and politely dare to say no to the next unreasonable request, looking back the signs were there to see, they had asked me to do a little job in their kitchen, I'm a kind soul and will happily do anything for anyone and they quickly took advantage of this, after having refitted their kitchen entirely outside of their opening hours over a period of several weeks during which I got practically nothing done on my place they told me that they wanted to treat me to a gourmet meal in Amiens with their family, where did they take me?  - à la patâterie [:(]

And the cerise sur le gâteux........... he had forgotten his cheque book and could I pay and he would (not) pay me back later [:-))]

Now as they knew they were going to have me over (again) why didnt they take me to the most expensive restaurant etoilé? There are several in Amiens, I think like the soirée patate it really was their favorite and why the people who took over their brasserie and tried to introduce some decent meals although nowhere near what Norman can regale his-self with, why they went bust very quickly, the locals didnt appreciate it.

The Flunch that has opened 500M up the road is doing a roaring trade, I came past it 30 minutes ago returning from my run and the car park for the whole centre commerciale (where all the other shops are closed) was full of cars. They are serving what people around here want to eat, at a price they are willing to pay in a cadre sympa but the food is not going to win any international awards. 

[YCCMB]

What are you looking for evidence of, exactly, Norman.?

Like Powerdesal, I've dined all over the world...some top end Restos, many just your average local eateries. I've eaten street food in Singapore, Vietnam and Myanmar, dined on zebra and crocodile in Kenya, eaten a fair number of goat curries across Africa, and oft times dined on things I didn't recognise and preferred not to know. Some places I've eaten certainly wouldn't ever make the good food guide, and probably would be condemned by public health inspectors in any European country.

I've suffered from food poisoning just three times in my life, and again, like Powerdesal, each of those unfortunate occurrences has been in France. Go figure, as our transatlantic brethren would put it.

Pee Ess..I've also eaten at Taillevent, when Claude Deligne was still the chef and it still had 3Michelin stars. I would have died happy after that meal, no question. Luckily, I wasn't paying....

Here, I can comfortably drive to the Hand and Flowers and enjoy an affordable meal in a pub which has 2Michelin stars, so I'll manage. I'm sure I read that the country with the most Michelin stars these days is Japan..

[Gardengirl]

There are a couple of dozen restaurants at least in our small town, with about half a dozen we eat at regularly, serving decent straightforward food, with good mostly local wines and welcoming, smiling service all at a very reasonable price. Others we eat at from time to time, some we won't go near, and one we keep meaning to try, a Michelin starred restaurant with lunch at a reasonable price, but whenever we get round to it, they're full.

Our favourite restaurant is in the next village. They used to be in a village at the other side of town, and we first came across them there, recommended by locals, who would eat there on special occasions, such as birthdays. It's family run by a young couple, who now have two children and regard this as home for the foreseeable future.

The welcome is charming and service is always very good. Lunch costs 24€ for nibbles, amuse bouche, main course, dessert plus petite fours if coffee is ordered. It's all a work of art as well as delicious, wines are by the glass if wished and good value and the whole experience is just pleasant.

Of course, we don't eat there all the time, but if we could we would.

[Chancer]

[quote user="gardengirl "] The welcome is charming and service is always very good. [/quote]

That is something that is universally lacking here, it doesnt even seem to enter into peoples consciousness that it might just help their business, and yet they appreciate it, the bars, cafes and restaurants that do give out this free commodity à volonté enjoy huge success, these restaurants etc dont even need to serve anything better than the competition, just do so with a smile and a welcome, they are however 100% either owned and run by foreigners or people from outside the area, thats not to say that someone from here that had travelled would not come back with a different view of the world, what service is and why it works, a bright, ambitious well travelled Picard could easily make their fortune here but they never return and I for one dont blame them [:D]

In the meantime these shining beacons of businesses that do so so well decide to cash in on their investment (the most valuable part of which, their good reputation cost them nothing more than a smile and a welcome) they sell the business for a very high price which it deserves, the new people are locals, the banks lend them loads of money with their families as guarantors, they then proceed to destroy the business by not understanding what it was that made it so successfull.

The average time to build up a sucessfull business and then sell it on for a fortune is 3-5 years, the average time to destroy it is 12-18 months, longer if the family and friends have deep pockets, an onlooker with half a brain cell could see within the first month that the business would not enjoy the success of the previous owners, AKA go bust like all the others.

The banks however are laughing all the way to the bank, their job is to lend money and be certain it will be paid back (by the muppet families and friends) they are happy to throw money at these naive racheteurs.