July 5, 2013 - 2:15pm
Industrial Food Ban in French "Restaurants"?...,
Some say, "only in France", but then it catches on as a way to differentiate a product. Big money is spent by industrial food outlets and suppliers lobbying legislatures in the capitals of the World followed by...,
Wondering whether it has any legs...,
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/the-dirty-secret-of-french-restaurants-y7vpVU9nQiCS_70mLgj8vA.html
Wild-Yeast
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Well, the French do - occasionally - have a good idea. That restriction would stuff the Golden Arches chain of fast food joints so let's support it :)
My earlier post was tongue in cheek (well sort of) - though not far from the point that industrialized food is a main stay of modern society like it or not.
It's my belief that the French do not want to change the meaning of the word "restaurant" but desire instead to elevate a classic form of gastronomy. It promotes French cuisine, advertising those restaurants that still prepare cuisine "en maison" as compared to the tens of thousands of restaurant businesses that use "industrial food" as a mainstay or to augment their business.
Here's an update from NPR:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/08/200106073/france-battles-scourge-of-ready-to-eat-meals-in-restaurants
Wild-Yeast
when processed cheese makers were labeled with the term 'embalmed' cheese as natural cheese makers wanted the government to label them. Now Velveeta is the best selling cheese in America. Why? Because it is cheap, the quality is consistent and many Americans grew up on it and just love it. It was the one cheese their parents could afford. 'Industrial' food fits this concept.
I'm guessing not one high end French restaurant in Paris, none of which i can afford to eat at by the way, makes their own wine, cheese or bread or process their own meats which is just the start of list - but the most obvious. But they have no problem putting them on the menu and selling them. The only way you can get fresh San Marzano tomatoes is if you live there otherwise they only come in a can even in Paris and that isn't the only can they are opening today either.
The problem is price for the high end Restaurant. If they make everything in house using only fresh ingredients the quality of many of their offerings will not be the best but the price will be top notch regardless. 100 percent of all people can afford a $1 egg McMuffin or a Big Mac and if they can't the rest of us will buy it for them with food subsidies. But, only 1% of people can afford to eat at a high end Paris eatery. They don't need any government help to feed the ultra rich by claiming other restaurants are 'industrial.'
You don't need any help when you are the best - you just need to quit pouting,
Just because I make my own sandwiches at home from SD multi grain, whole grain bread that I baked, mustard, vinegar and mayo I made, with meats i smoked, lettuce, tomato and herbs i grew and cheese that I made doesn't make my sandwich any healthier or nutritious than one you can get at Subway. It is just home made and way cheaper than if you got the same sandwich at a Paris restaurant .....if they did what I do .....but they won't any more than Subway will. I am guessing that my Sammy is way better than what the Paris or Subway restaurant would produce - and I can afford it.
Much ado about nothing. They are defending the undefendable.
That in the highly unlikely event that I were to eat at a fancy Paris restaurant in the future, I would like to know say if my entree was an industrially prepared meal that was being "made" by microwaving it out of the freezer. So it would seem that would be a fine place to "draw the line." Speaking of which, I was eating in Cambridge, Mass at a Portuguese restaurant awhile ago, and the bread was just excellent. I quizzed the owner on what exactly it was, and she started out bravely enough, but as my questions kept coming, she finally just blurted out - we get it from a bakery. That was fine with me. I'm sure it was an excellent Portuguese bakery. But that microwaved industrially prepared entree? No way. I'm outraged at the thought of it, even though for cost as well as other reasons, it is unlikely to be an issue in my own life. Regulate away I say! (Just feeling like arguing with you DA. Don't take the bait.) -Varda
are 'industrially' prepared, even though there isn't such a thing. Almost all of it comes from the industrially based food distribution industry I worked in for so many years. Some stuff gets microwaved, some stuff was made in the industrial strength mini oven, or Betsy;the Big Old GE Oven. A lot comes out of the industrial GE fridge and freezer and made on the industrial CharBroil gas grill, smoker or GE cooktop. I don't know of a crop or food that isn't industrially grown, harvested, stored and or processed in some way.
We just can't get away from it and neither can any restaurant - especially those that claim they are somehow special and deserve government protection. Who would want to really? Caves don't suit many folks today and are way below underground concrete bunkers on the survival scale. I just want the food to be good and something i can't make better at home in my near total industrial kitchen - which is less industrial than theirs by a very wide margin - even though i have a stainless steel fridge likem they do.
Of course, i don't have a WFO and can't even make 'artisan' bread at home as a result either. Still, my apprentice endeavors to perservear and make the best Industrilal bread she can :-)
When i go a restaurant and the food is better at the restaurant across the street, I want the restaurant I am at to run over to their competitor and get it for me instead - and then tell me about it so i can eat across the street next time. The rules still apply. There are three things in business. Low Price, Quality and Service, You can only get 2 of the 3.
As a business owner, you decide where you want to be in the scheme of things and either provide 2 of the 3 or provide high price, quality and service and don't complain about it. Your customers and business success will decide it you chose wisely or not. The government can't fix bad choices but people can. No one can fix stupid - except my apprentice of course :-)
Even if french restaurants don't serve pre-prepared dishes, the alternatives aren't very imaginative. We live in the Gers, SW France, and eating out means, almost without exception, magret et frites. Moules et frites at the village do's.
Steak and chips is also popular.
And every small town has its Macdo's.
out some frozen, leftover, grilled chicken tacos out of the freezer. I unfroze them in the microwave and put them, side by side, in a Pyrex bread pan and sauced them with some bottled chipotle, red salsa and some ranchero sauce. topped it with blobs of sour cream and shredded colby jack cheese and then put it in the mini oven to heat up.
My wife said that they were the best enchiladas she has ever had. I said great, but they aren't enchiladas :-)
We have come far but sadly still find oursleves lost :-)
That reminds me of a recipe for baked chicken (from a country which shall remain nameless) involving mixing mayonnaise and tomato sauce, smearing on the chicken joints and baking in a hot oven. Yuk!