Paris Cafe's

From:

The Foods of France

By James Mellgren

JULY 01, 2004 -- "I eat and drink everything in France and it's never made me ill, which is more than
I can say for Florida…"
-- Jim Harrison

If you pay attention and converse with the right people, you might detect a bone of contention between France and Italy over who really invented food. Or perhaps more accurately, who gave the world food that was worth sitting down to at a civilized table, musing over, arguing about, and ultimately, eating. Much has been written about the young Italian princess Catherine de' Medici who, upon being married off to Henry, the future king of France, brought with her to the French court her cooks, pastry chefs, ice cream makers, all manner of fruits and vegetables unknown to the French at the time, and even the fork which the Italians in turn had received from the remnants of the Byzantine Empire. The debate continues over which country was responsible for things like crème brûlée and mayonnaise (even the Spanish join the fray on this issue), not to mention the concept of eating meals in courses and drinking wine from crystal goblets, all things one takes for granted today in France, and indeed, most of the world. Going back even further, the Romans spread the art of cheesemaking, winemaking, and baking throughout the known world, including France. As interesting as all of this is, it doesn't begin to address the overwhelming influence of French gastronomy over every conceivable corner of the planet, including our own. No matter the genesis of these foods, French food is the great Mother cuisine of Western civilization, just as Chinese food influenced and shaped the rest of Asia. Today, Paris remains the Mecca for foodies everywhere, and for most of us, the mere mention of the city of lights evokes a flood of gastronomic memories as strongly as Proust's madeleine. We must ask the question then -- "Is France still the source of culinary inspiration that it was throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?" Gastronomically speaking, does France still count? We feel that the answer is overwhelmingly "Yes" and we'll explore some of the reasons why.

La Gastronomie Française
"French Cooking is a monument in a permanent state of renovation," say Philip and Mary Hyman in The Oxford Companion to Food. This seems to be a perfect description of the cuisine in France over the past 20 or 30 years as international influences (including ours) have made their presence felt in French eating habits, food production, and retailing. It's true that the industrialization of food production is just as prevalent in France as it is in the rest of the world, sometimes for the good, sometimes not. But what of the handcrafted artisanal foods that France is justly famous for?
In the late 1980's when Patricia Wells published The Food Lover's Guide to France, she posed two questions, "How, in this homogenized world, has France managed to retain its undisputed role as the maker, the shaper, the ruler of Western cuisine? Others challenge it -- Italy notably has a joyous gastronomic tradition and there are remarkable tables in that sensuous country. And elements of American cooking are emerging in many noteworthy ways. But France's cuisine remains the standard by which all others are measured, to which all others are compared."
"The second question is, can all this continue? Already, in the decade or so I have been traveling and living in France, I have seen anonymous chain supermarkets squeeze out small vendors whose produce was fresher and far more attractive. I have watched the trend develop for cheeses whose taste has nothing over Velveeta, and I have mourned as neighborhood traiteurs and charcuteries disappeared in favor of trendy fast-food eateries."
A few years ago, it seemed that while America's artisanal foods were on the rise, the culinary scene in France was on the decline. The rapidly emerging fast-food industry, advances in food technology, and the unwillingness of young people to carry on certain food traditions had eroded this renowned base of handmade traditional foods. In addition, many restaurants in Paris, with one eye toward American and Japanese tourist dollars and the other on the Michelin guide, began serving faux versions of the classic French repertoire, certain that the traveling hoards wouldn't know the difference. Happily, a culinary movement seems to be fomenting and France is reinventing itself. Not content to allow their great gastronomic tradition to falter or worse, take a back seat to anyone else, French chefs, retailers, and artisans have been rediscovering the glories of French cuisine. It can be witnessed in the hand-harvested sea salt, meticulously crafted cheeses, wine vinegars made in the traditional Orleans method, preserves, sauces, mustards, cured meats, confections, and baked goods, wine, and spirits.
Of course, many of these foods hadn't gone anywhere and have been manufactured uninterrupted for centuries, kept alive because of French adherence to quality and freshness. One seeks out and pays more for a poulet de Bresse (the incomparable chickens raised between the Rhône and the Alps) because they taste better. To most French cooks and shoppers, this is a no-brainer, but as the giant superstores and industrial poultry factories squeeze out the small farmers, it is harder for these producers to compete, even in France. Nevertheless, chickens in France still taste like chicken, something that is increasingly difficult to say here, and one encounters more raw-milk cheeses than pasteurized ones in the marketplace.

Fromages, Toujour Fromages
The French didn't invent cheese, but when it comes to this most ancient and perfect food, no other country on Earth can lay claim to such a vast array of unique and delicious examples of what has been called milk's great leap to immortality. Start with the incredibly floral and herbaceous chèvre, the diversity of which our country has only recently begun to emulate. To taste a selection of raw-milk goat cheeses like Pouligny-Saint-Pierre, Selles-sur-Cher, Valençay, Crottin de Chavignol, and Chabichou du Poitou is to understand what a seminal experience these cheeses can be. Consider the rich legacy, imitated the world over, of the family of soft-ripened, bloomy rind cheeses such as Camembert and Brie, arguably France's most famous cheeses. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then French cheesemakers should be blushing. Versions of these two cheeses are made virtually everywhere that cheese is made, often with disappointing results. Some French manufacturers of soft-ripened cheeses have set up shop in the United States, notably in Wisconsin, in order to meet the demand for the cheeses here and to control the quality. The lush grass of Wisconsin is similar enough to that of certain areas of France that very fine examples are made there.
The above-mentioned cheeses are perhaps the best known, but the list doesn't even begin to encompass the myriad collection of cheeses, hard and soft, washed rind and blue, from the milk of cows, sheep, and goats that comprise the French lexicon of cheeses. The French have also led the way in guaranteeing authenticity, protecting the names and regional references, as well as the methods of production that distinguish many of the great cheeses. Much of this categorizing originally comes from the world of French wine, as does the often-elusive concept of terroir, or the qualitative influence of the soil, the climate, other geographical distinctions, and the hand of the producer on the ultimate product. While we don't have the centuries of tradition as the French do, our cheesemakers and vintners have nonetheless employed this concept in order to help distinguish our own food products. We'll certainly be seeing and hearing more of this from France, other countries throughout the European Community, and the United States as producers seek to protect traditional foods from the onslaught of industrialization and globalization.

Selling in French
Despite the popularity and familiarity of Italian food, French cooking is still the cornerstone of a chef's training, the techniques of which are employed in virtually every kind of cooking today, even by those who don't know they are using French techniques. Additionally, French products are central to the specialty food business. Imagine, for example, a cheese case with no Beaufort, no Pyrenees sheep's milk cheeses, no Comté, and no Roquefort, easily one of the most widely known blue cheeses of which France has so many. Other essentials include mustard from Dijon, foie gras and truffles from the Périgord, nut oils from Provence, and vinegars from all over.
Over the last couple of years at the SIAL and Anuga trade shows in Europe, another trend has emerged. The great canon of classic French sauces and dishes are being packaged to eat at home, using new technology that captures the dishes' essence and freshness. In addition, the manufacturers are working with classically trained chefs who are using pristine, often organic ingredients to make up the foods. All that is needed to enjoy a superb French meal at home is to heat and serve. It is very likely that we'll be seeing a lot of these ready-to-eat meals imported into the U.S.
French culture is rife with images for promotion, from classic cookbooks to cinema to literature and music, images that immediately evoke France. Who, for example, could hear the voice of Edith Piaf, the "little sparrow," and not think of France. The same is true of the films of Marcel Pagnol, whose character Panisse inspired Alice Waters to name her seminal California restaurant that itself owes so much to French cooking and culture. And of course, there are the indelible architectural icons, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame (to name just two), that are instantly recognizable to any American. Failing all that, we have our own American writers like Julia Child, Patricia Wells, and Richard Olney who have so lovingly written of France and her food traditions.
France's reputation suffered in the past couple of years here in America and that is truly unfortunate for a country that has been such a good friend and ally for the entire history of our country, a history I hasten to add that began when France had already been in existence for a millennia. French culture and traditions are deeply etched into our food, our cooking, our language, our fashion trends, and our arts, not to mention our lingerie. It's time to reexplore the glories of the French table, and what it has meant to our own. When you look around and take note of all the French products you no doubt have on your shelves, you'll agree that the time is right for a French promotion. So put the freedom fryer on the back burner (or better yet, throw it out altogether) and bring on the French fries. This Bastille Day, raise a toast to our bon amies across the water, hoist a French flag (also red, white, and blue lest we forget) and slice off a piece of foie gras (that is before California makes it illegal!) and say salut to the bon gout of French food.

Parisian café From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Café de Flore

Café Marly

33 1 49 26 06 60 -

Café des Deux Magots

Cafe Charbon

+33 1 43 57 55 13

Le Marceau - +33 1 47 20 01 95

Brasserie Lipp

L'Arbuci

+33 1 44 32 16 00 -

Giorgio Armani France - +33 1 45 48 62 15 -

De la Ville Café +33 1 48 24 48 09 -