Letter From Paris
Paris Kiosque - November 2003 - Volume 10, Number 11
Copyright © 2003 Harriet Welty-Rochefort - Used with permission.
Paris - November! Since this is the month I was born in, I feel I should defend it
- but sometimes it's hard, especially in Paris where the eleventh month of
the year more often than not equals steady steely grey skies, cold and rain.
Yet, when the sun comes out, showing off the beautiful oranges and yellows
of the trees mixed in with the last soft rose blooms and falling leaves on
lawns and city streets it is indeed a glorious time of year.
My husband and I had proof of that when we went for a Sunday stroll in the
Père Lachaise cemetery, only a five minute walk from our apartment.
Since November 1 is All-Saint's Day in France (le Toussaint) and people had
come to the cemetery on Saturday to decorate the tombs, by Sunday the whole
place was a burst of color. On the streets near the cemetery, the pavements
were filled with huge chrysanthemums and purple heather and myrtle and all
kinds of other varieties of plants for cemeteries (by the way, if invited to
a French home for dinner, don¹t show up with a big chrysanthemum even
though it is objectively a thoroughly attractive plant, it is too associated
with cemeteries to be offered as a house gift !).
At this point, you may be wishing I would stop talking about morbid things
and get on with it. But since November starts with the Toussaint, it sets
the tone. Solemnity with a touch of color. In truth, November is quite a
busy, cheerful month in Paris.
-- Saints, not Sorcerers --
Anglo-Saxon countries bring in November with Halloween. Until a few years
ago, this was not so in France. A 2500-year-old Celtic feast, Halloween
never took off in Catholic France until its distinctly commercial
possibilities touched off a light in some enterprising marketer¹s head a
few years ago. (I distinctly remember making desperate searches for pumpkins
and scary costumes when my kids were little, to no avail.) But how times
have changed. Walk down any French street the month preceding Halloween and
you¹re sure to see every variety of goblin and witch-with-broom (sorcière
avec balai) and obligatory spider web in the windows of stationary shops and
bakeries, dime stores and other digs.
The Catholics didn¹t really like this phenomenon or know how to handle it
until this year when the Church decided to mount its own propaganda campaign
called Holy Wins.... (I think they need a better P.R. but at least they
tried).
In an all-out effort to reinstate the Christian meaning of All Saints Day,
devout young Catholics took to the streets of Paris with leaflets, smiles
and good will. All this was coupled with a free Christian rock and reggae
concert and a special All Saint's Day cake on sale in 200 bakeries
throughout the country. (maybe their P.R. is not so bad after all). In
exchange for selling the cake at a lower price than equivalent products, the
participating bakery shops got a team of the faithful to decorate its
premises...with saints, instead of sorcerers.
-- And A Chocolate Show --
A Japanese tourist taking a picture of the Venus of Milo? What else is new?
Nothing really, until you consider that the pretty Japanese tourist in the
red duffle coat taking a picture of her friend in front of the Venus de Milo
was capturing not the real thing but a reproduction made entirely of
chocolate. Next to it was a chocolate painting of Mona Lisa, frame and all,
weighing 15 kilograms. Upstairs on the mezzanine visitors could admire some
of the most seductive, beautiful chocolate-inspired dresses I have ever seen
and fantasize about wearing them. Or how about beautifully sculpted
chocolate fountain created by the Comptoir du Cacao. A chocolate dream
swirling around and round....
Welcome to the 9th annual chocolate show in Paris !
I don¹t know about you but I adore chocolate. Not " candy bars " but the
real thing dark chocolate made solely with cocoa butter. OK, call me a
snob if you will. That¹s the way it is and I was in chocolate heaven at
the Chocolate Show where all the major chocolate " creators " gathered to
exhibit and have visitors taste their wares. If you go just to taste, be
aware, though, that in Europe the portions are about as big as half your
smallest fingernail.
If crowd size is any indication of popularity, one can safely say that the
French go ape over chocolate. A Salon du Chocolat poll showed that women in
France prefer black chocolate over milk chocolate or white chocolate and
find that chocolate is above all a " refined " product. 85 per cent are
convinced that a few bits of chocolate are good for the morale ! And since
women like chocolate so much, many spas and beauty salons in France now
offer chocolate treatments. Ah, for a chocolate bath !
Not likely, so for my next chocolate pleasure I¹ll hoof it up to the
Patisserie de l¹Eglise (metro Jourdain not far from our apartment) whose
pastry chef, Bruno Baron, won first prize for his éclair au chocolat.
Meanwhile back at the Salon I admired the French sense of humor and history.
One specialty from the town of Montargis was called " crottes de chien "
(dog poop). Curious, I approached the stand, and learned that the chocolate
was so baptized because of the following legend: Under King Charles V a
certain Knight called Macaire assassinated a certain Aubry de Montdidier.
The victim¹s dog pursued the Knight, forcing the murderer to surrender his
weapon. Well, who knows if it¹s true, but it¹s a good story and the
chocolate was selling wellŠ.
-- A Dog¹s Life --
Speaking of dogs and kings, I read in a recent article in The International
Herald Tribune by Elaine Sciolino that your dog will be treated like a king
at some of Paris¹s foremost palaces. Take your pooch to the Crillon,
Meurice or the Trianon in Versailles and they¹ll get guest meals that make
your own chow look likeŠdog food. According to Sciolino, the Trianon is
offering a Heavenly Pets package deal for a mere $400 a night for dog and
owner. This includes room-service menus (for the dog) at $17 each and a
snack of dry dog food for $11. More expensive than home, certainly, but then
how many dogs get to frequent the Trianon ? The article also mentioned that
at the National Veterinarian School outside of Paris, " a special course is
offered for dog psychiatrists. " A dog's life, indeed...
-- Food-Fou de France --
The ebullient, creative, non-stop most-starred chef of France, Alain
Ducasse, has come up with yet another original idea. Between trips to his
fifteen restaurants on four continents, Ducasse decided it was high time to
promote and encourage young chefs from all over France by inviting the best
of them to cook and present a menu of regional dishes at the Relais Plaza in
Paris. Every two weeks, one of the under-40 " rising stars " selected by a
jury of specialists comes to Paris to present his or her region. In a
milieu where top chefs generally work only on retaining their own glory,
this initiative definitely deserves a gold star.
-- Statistic of the Month and Address of the Month --
According to a recent study, the average French woman weighs 63.3 kilos and
measures 1 meter 64. 55 per cent of French women would like to weigh 57.7
kilos (don't ask me about the .7). The average French woman is "comfortably
slim" but would like to be slimmer. I guess I'm just an average French
woman!
While we're on food, if you come to Paris and are on a tight budget head for
Le Café Banal, 39 Boulevard de Port-Royal in the 13th arrondissement. The
owner, who decided that it's too expensive to lunch in Paris, charges the
same price for every dish: 1 euro 50. It's not the Tour d'Argent but
apparently it's decent (I haven't been yet so can't give a firsthand
report). If you go, there's only one thing not to do: Don't yell "it's so
cheap" - in English. Be discreet - and enjoy!
-- The Decline of France --
The naysayers are at it again, deploring the current state of France.
Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice and Thomas Friedman would love the titles
of a recent spate of homegrown doom and gloom books : " L¹Arrogance
Française " (French Arrogance), " Le Désarroi Français " (France in
Disarray) and my favorite, " La France Qui Tombe " (France in Free Fall).
The authors of these best-sellers make the same point : France is so bound
up in its past it is incapable of a vision for the future. Its leaders
cultivate rigidity and the status quo. (If you've lived in France long
enough, all this gives you a big sense of déjà vu).
None of this is far from the mark, of course, but some of the French are
exasperated by all the soul-searching. In an interview with Time, Prime
Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, pointed out that most of the authors of
these books came from the same intellectual milieu, ENA, the Ecole Nationale
d¹Administration whose graduatesŠ.run the country ! " If you¹re a French
intellectual, " Raffarin told Time, " you talk either about the arrogance of
France or the decline of FranceŠ.French intellectuals are not international
enough, not open-minded enough about the worldŠ "
Touché !
-- Hajib, not Hermès --
French intellectuals may be dreary but no one would deny that French society
is changing and it¹s becoming increasingly difficult to find easy solutions
to complicated problems.
Take the Muslim head scarf, for example.
The rule in French public schools is that no student can wear an "
ostentatious " religious symbol, whether that symbol be the Jewish kipa, the
Muslim head scarf, or a Christian cross.
Although the great majority of France's Muslims respect this law, some young
girls and their parents have attempted to get around it, refusing to take
off their head scarf when asked. In most of the cases, a discussion with
the parents, the girls and the school administration resulted in a
negotiated settlement.
Recently, though, Alma and Lila,two 19-year-old sisters who converted to the
Muslim religion, categorically refused to take off their scarves.
The usual attempts were made to reach a compromise but the girls stood their
ground.
And were expelled from their school.
This provoked a flurry of articles, editorials, columns, and letters from
readers; some approved the expulsion, others wished that the girls had been
allowed to remain in school.
The former argue that since France fought hard for secularity in schools,
stripping classrooms of the crosses that had traditionally hung on the
walls, it is fundamental to leave religion any religion - outside school.
The latter fear that Muslim girls may be subjected to pressure by their
families and are better off inside the French school system than on the
outside where they may become radicalized.
The ironic thing about the Alma-Lila "affaire" is that interviews with the
girls and their parents show that the veil in this case was purely and
simply a case of adolescent rebellion. Their father is a non-practicing
Jew, their mother a non-practicing Muslim. A year ago one of the girls
wanted a piercing. Her mother refused. Then the girls, whose parents are
separated, moved from Reims to Paris to live with their father. And
converted to Islam, or at least their version of it. They're not exactly up
to snuff on their knowledge of the Koran (when asked where they found the
passage saying women had to be entirely covered, they said "somewhere") and
they enthusiastically defend truly spooky things like the stoning of
adulterous women.... I wouldn't be surprised to learn in a year or two that
they've cast off their veils and moved on to something new and different.
As the French say, "pas sérieux".
But we've got to thank them for fanning the debate on the head scarf. It's
indeed a complicated one. For all the Almas and Lilas who are wearing the
garb the way punks wear theirs, there are others who see the covering of the
head as an expression of their religious faith. The question remains the
same: "yes" or "no" to the Islamic head covering in school. And if "yes",
to what degree? A bandana? Ears and neck showing? Who will monitor these
things? And when the veiled women also require separate sessions in the pool
or gym class because they don't want to mix with boys, what's the answer?
When everything is all mixed up, it's hard to know what to do.
French president Jacques Chirac has set up a commission to study the issue
of secularity and will give a major speech on the subject before the end of
the year.
-- Dressing Up, Dressing Down --
Some put it on, others take it off. The Galeries Lafayette has opened what
it says is the largest lingerie department in the world. But that's not
all: just in case you don't know how to make the most of removing the
little that's on you, the store is offering a special inaugural strip tease
course at the String Shop (right off Red Hot Boulevard). Women only
(probably so the men don't find out the secret...)
Only the French!
Harriet Welty Rochefort is the author of
French Toast: An American in Paris Celebrates the Maddening Mysteries of the French and
French Fried: The Culinary Capers of an American in Paris.
French Toast was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "wise and devastatingly
funny". For world-famous chef Alain Ducasse, her second book French Fried
"in a lively and hilarious style ... gives an inside look at the world of
French cuisine and wine." Both books are published by St. Martin's Press.
Harriet is currently working on her third book about the French.
For more of Harriet's prose on Paris, and ruminations of France and the French,
she and her husband Philip have a
website.
If you've had some funny, startling, satisfying, or dismaying
food experiences in France you'd like to share,
you may contact Harriet directly at
harriet.welty@hwelty.com.
Editor's Note:
Dear Readers, while our writers are always
delighted to hear and to receive comments, both about their columns in the The Paris Kiosque,
as well as your experiences in Paris,
they are unable to answer requests for travel information.
Thank you for your understanding.
