Dough way

Later this year we will learn if the French Ministry for culture has been successful in obtaining ‘know how and culture of the bread baguette’ for inscription on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage. There is great pride across France in its heritage for bread, which is governed by french law, and as part of that it needs to be available to the people on a daily basis. In Paris the bakers are split into two groups, one group holidays in July, and the other in August. The following year they flip over. The system seems to work with apparently few complaints.

Last week E. Leclerc, one of France’s major supermarket chains, lowered its cost of a baguette from 35 cents to just 29 cents. It had previously been sold at 35 cents for the last 10 years. There has been an outcry from farmers, bakers, and competitors, exclaiming that they are devaluing the baguette, and it appears a price war has begun, as this week Lidl have matched the price of E. Leclerc.

Boulangerie’s, who offer a better quality baguette, will not be matching these offerings by the large supermarkets, and I think I’m right in my observation that France would not want them to compromise on their quality to match these prices either. For us, we enjoy the higher quality baguette, and we will continue to buy our bread from our local bakers, which is the right thing to do anyway.