Above: the exquisite brioche at Le Pichet in Seattle. Below, baguettes at Boulangerie Nantaise.
Those pesky Parisians are back in the news. On the front page of the Wall Street Journal, an article claiming that baguette-buyers in the City of Light are asking for undercooked loaves. No crust, no crunch, no crumbs. Mon dieu! But why? Turns out, the real thing's too hard to chew, too quick to dry out. The French baguette is iconic! Don't mistreat it like this! Read the article and weep! Weep for a tradition under attack by a new modern trend. Cornichon wrote about good, crunchy bread in Paris back in 2007, before the staff of life turned soft.
And speaking of soft news, the Noo Yawk Timez's newly assigned business correspondent for Paris has just heard that the bureaucrats in charge of tourism are concerned about the image of waiters in the city's restaurants and cafes, that they're gruff and uncaring.
It's a valid point, but, again, this is nothing new. Regular Cornichon readers have seen countless posts here over the years about the importance of tourism as an engine of the French economy, and the crucial need to upgrade the quality of welcome for visitors. (Here's one from two years ago; here's another.) The point shouldn't be whether visitors are classy or uncouth; the quality of service shouldn't depend on the shoes you wear. Whose fault is it if your steak's overdone?
Some people clearly shouldn't be in a service industry, and (just as obviously) some people should stay home, since nothing's going to make them happy. Sometimes it's the traveler, sometimes it's the innkeeper, but all you have to do is read through a string of reviews on Yelp of TripAdvisor to realize that some people are just dicks. Emmerdeurs, the French would say. Troublemakers. Or, to put it more politely. cornichons.
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