One picture we have of France, well, holiday France, is of men or women cycling homewards about breakfast time, with several long sticks of bread under an arm or in the basket on the handlebars. Maybe some croissants in a bag. Now in many parts of Ireland these, too, are available. But no one goes out for them at dawn. To many people, France is the capital of bread, wine (red preferably) and cheese. But startling news in a magazine where over forty pages are devoted to bread which you find, has actually fallen drastically in consumption for decades.
In the 1920's, the French consumed an average of 630 grammes of bread per day - over a pound weight in old parlance. There was a steep decline to 290 grammes in the 60's and now the consumption is just about 100g per person per day. That is, says the article in Madame Figaro, "barely the half of the quantity which is advised for children." Why the descent of bread? asks the article, and answers that the more money one has, the more one turns to "more sophisticated foods such as meat." In the decade between 1980 and 1990, meat consumption went up 60 per cent.
And, at the same time, bread had become the bete noir of slimming addicts.
But this "nutritional Mac Carthyism" is now going out of fashion. Bread is finding its proper standing; perhaps particularly for its fibre content; and the article then goes on to argue the medical properties bread contains. The last page extols these regime a la Francaise" of the trio bread, wine and cheese. It claims that in the United States "paradise of the anti alcoholic leagues", a little glass of red wine has been appearing in hospitals on the trays of those convalescing. In the forty or so pages all sorts of tantalising photos appear of rolls and bread with cumin, fennel, poppy seed. Then elaborate, scooped out loaves with various fillings. Now in Ireland we have a wonderful choice of rye breads and Italian style baguettes and tomato breads and God knows what. On another day Irish home baking.