Parisians Have Rights; To a Bon Baguette!

Hear Ye!  Hear Ye!                                                                                                               Bread is serious business here in France and given special legislation in Paris during the summertime, when half of the boulangers close for vacation.  July or August are the traditional months for business owners to close down and leave, except for the bakers who are told which month they must remain open and which month they can close.

My American mindset finds it hard to believe and even amazed that bakers must be regulated as to their vacation plans.  The reason being that every Parisian has the right decreed by law to find a bon baguette within easy reach of their home.

French food laws are very strict in so far as to what can be used to make and label “pain de traditon francaise”.    By law it must be put together, mixed, kneaded and baked on the premises.   The best artisanal bakers  use organic flours of high quality and natural yeasts.

Baguettes are not the only stars of French breads, but “pains de compagne” are tremendously varied with whole grains studded with nuts, cereal grains, and fruit or olives.  Flours of chestnuts and buckwheat  are also very popular.

Buying your daily bread in quite a obsession here as evidence of the long lines one must endure at the better bakers.  If you in a new quartier, then that is usually a very good way to know if the bread is  even worth the wait.

Mon Dieu!  It must be traumatic for some to find their favorite boulanger boarded up and closed.  To ease their anxiety about where to go next to get their daily baguette fix, each bakery that is closed must display at least 3 of the closest ones or be fined 11 to 33 euros a day.                                                                                                                                     La Chambre des  Artisans Boulangers-Patissiers, who are over 200 years old, are the regulators supreme.   Their headquarters , located on L’ile Saint Louis, the most prime real estate in Paris bespeaks of their power and prestige.  They are also the organizers of the best baguette of Paris, a yearly contest hotly competitive and the acclaimed winners are like stars, practically guaranteed of success.

This obsessional fear of being deprived of their daily bread goes back to the French revolution.  Bread was the main staple of food for most citizens.  In 1789, there were bread riots in Paris and Versailles due to the shortages and price.   It was around then that Marie Antoinette when told there was no more bread, supposedly  replied, “well let them eat cake”.

The furor caused the mobs to become even more violent and an uprising occurred in the name of bread.   The Prefecteur of Police decided in 1790 that bakers had to  assure the furnishing of bread to Parisians to avoid any  future violence and famines.

Majority of bakers accept the decision without contest and allow their times of vacation be dictated by others.   Request for changes can be submitted, but only granted if there are enough bakers open nearby.

The French see their baguette as a national symbol of pride and rightfully so.  I too have my favorite boulanger Dominique Saibron, who perhaps because of his popularity chooses to stay open year round.   On Sundays his line  winds down the street, but no one seems to be bothered, including me.                                                                                                                               I do not buy a baguette a day.   Good Lord I would love too, but that is way to much carbs for me every day.   Does not seem to bother the French who start each day with huge slices of baguette slathered in butter and jam.  Another basket of bread is de rigueur at lunch and dinner too.

Another parodox is that all the bread and pastries that they consume with abandon doesn’t seem to saddle them with fat.  I suspect it is their superior wheats and the very slow fermentation required in making their best breads without additives.

Paris is a melody in the early morning with delightful enticing smells of croissants, pains au chocolate, brioche and other breakfast breads wafting through the air that like a magnet pulling you in.  Bakers bake throughout the day to assure that  your baguette is always fresh out of the oven.  The exquisite breads, in addition to the superb wines and cheeses, is what I miss most when away.

Bread is a ritual that tantalizes all our senses.  I love to feel it warm in my hand this golden brown staff of life and hear the crunching noises when cut, but best of all is the heady aroma and taste .  So I can certainly understand the frenzy and need to make sure that no one in Paris be without their sacred bread.