(asked by Marie from… somewhere…)
The thing is that I don’t really eat bread that much. I can go months without bread. Actually I never ever buy bread, I’ll eat it only if somebody else bought some, but it won’t just cross my mind to buy bread. Ever.
What’s wrong with me?
No idea.
But even if I never buy bread, most French people still do it on a daily basis, this is not a legend, because I assume that’s what you really want to know, right?
Why every day? Why don’t they just buy enough bread for the whole week?
Simply because French bread (the one you foreigners call baguette, but that we French simply call bread, we use the term baguette only when we ask the bread to the baker, never when we talk about it) has to be eaten fresh, just a few hours old… The fresher the better. The longer you wait, the worse it gets.
And as far as the quality of baguettes is concerned, I’m not too sure, mostly because even if I nowadays eat bread on a regular basis (my girlfriend -who is not French- will buy some on a daily basis) it’s the first time I’ve been doing eat since I was a kid.
So I can’t really tell if the quality has declined in the last two decades.
What I know, is that the quality of baguettes will vary greatly from bakery to bakery, so if you think your bakery doesn’t make good bread, do not hesitate to shop around, you might just find one you like.
I quickly discovered that baguettes must be eaten the day you buy them because the next day, they will be like eating cement. Although, I did leave a piece, wrapped in plastic, in the micro-onde, and it was pretty good the next day.
Thanks for answering my question! I didn’t notice at first because the questions wanted at the top looks the same! You might want to put that part in your post template so that it pops up automatically after every post!
the best baguette in paris IMHO is at Patisserie Pinaud at Place Monge in the 5th. Get the “tradi graines”. You won’t go anywhere else after trying one of these babies. And starman is right, they are mean to be eaten that day so I usually get a 1/2 baguette. I save the leftoveres and once a week cube what is left and toast them to make croutons. bon appetit!
Having moved to France not too long ago, I thought it was interesting that one of the most often-asked questions I received about my new village was if I had picked my boulangerie yet?!
Baguettes are important factors it appears. But I don’t buy them too often as I live alone and they lose their appeal pretty quickly. Although at about one euro, I guess it isn’t too large of an investment.
There are 7 or 8 boulangeries near my apartment but I only go to one as it’s far superior than the rest. Everyone in the quartier knows it’s the best and there’s always a massive queue there while the other boulangeries are empty.
The only reason I haven’t moved from my crappy apartment is because of that boulangerie
Wow. I’ve only had the “baugettes” (quotation marks for a reason) here in America. They’re ok, but you can wait like a week to eat them and they’ll just be the same. I think it’s because of some crazy preservative. I don’t know. But when I go to France, I shall eat baugettes every day!!! <3
You’ve had “baguettes” not “baugettes” (those don’t exist), and as you said if you’ve had “baguettes” in America, you most likely haven’t had baguettes, especially if they’re edible for a week or so.