The French food system

The Credit Crunch is providing more than enough material for musing on how the rules of a system determine the kinds of behaviour it displays, but just for once I'd like to consider another example: food in France. This blog was named partly in honour of the Italian coffee 'system', a set of assumptions, ways of doing business, and historical precedents that results in it being trivially easy to get a wonderful cup of coffee for very little money nearly everywhere in Italy. Things used to be similarly positive for the gourmand in France. Even cheap restaurants were good and most basic food suppliers were competent or better.

A recent trip to Normandy suggests that things are beginning to fail. The average quality of the vegetables and the fruit in the local market I visited was good, but there were a number of examples of poor produce. The local cafe served bitter, thin coffee. I even found an indifferent patisserie.


The thought that this is part of a wider trend is rather troubling. One can forgive the French their contrary nature and chronic under-productivity if they live well and enjoy life. But if the cheese stops stinking and the steak frites don't come with a fantastic Bearnaise, the deal looks rather less attractive. Could it be that the growth of two job partnerships, longer working hours, and changing retail patterns is poisoning the French food system? Is the cancer of German food habits metastatising across Europe? What a horrible thought...

Update. See here for a story from the Guardian about a conflict between large and small Camembert producers. The idea that industrial scale Camembert production is even permitted strikes me as bizarre.