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French Classics
le petit café...
It's not so much the coffee, although it's rare that we taste an unpleasant
one, it's the ritual. The little sounds and actions that accompany the procedure
are essential to the experience. There are several bangs on a drawer as the
old coffee grounds are tipped out of the metal container. There is a swift
whirr as the fresh grounds are added then the push and twist as the container
is smartly inserted into the machine. While the little cup fills, the saucer
is placed on the counter, and laid onto it are spoon, sugar, and a small chocolate.
The coffee cup, full with (if you're lucky) piping hot, dark liquid with an
intoxicating aroma is carefully placed on the saucer. It is then delivered
to your table by the bar person, who always seems pleased at their achievement,
and rightly so, le petit café is perfect and delightful, and very French.
Julia, la Vienne(86)
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French Classics...
We all have our favourites and will seek
far and wide to purchase that little something that is just oh, so French....
But how much do we know about their origins? Here are a few favourites
with a little of their history.
The humble Carambar is amongst the more ephemeral
of the countless design classics produced by France. Nowadays, of course,
they come in all kinds of garishly coloured waxy wrappers, glowing seductively
from within those crinkly, see-through packets which inhabit the sweetie
racks of any self-respecting hypermarché .
Devotees of le vrai Carambar, however, shun the multitude of fruity
flavours of these upstart newcomers and dive instead for the subtle, understated
hue of the original, classic caramel varieties.
Since 1954, generations of infants gastronomes have cut (not to say decayed) their teeth on these chewy little taste-bombs, which appear to have originated in a direct and, as it turns out, inspired response by the house of Delespaul-Havez to unexpected surpluses of cocoa and sugars. The rest, it seems, is history, culminating in the product's elevation from its humble origins to attain the status of a veritable icon of la confiserie Française . Today there are currently 15 different flavours of Carambar and even an ice lolly. Three generations have enjoyed eating Carambar, and people continue to eat them - one is consumed every 40 seconds - around 700 million bars each year. Visit www.carambar.fr
Oh, la Vache!...
It must have
been quite some joke. France's most celebrated red cow started laughing in
1921 and hasn't stopped yet. No doubt others mocked the idea at the time,
but the now-celebrated name (one of the first examples of an abstract concept
to have been registered in France as a trade name for a product) proved an
inspired choice for Léon Bel,
whose fromageries have
been turning out a still-expanding range of dairy products at Lons-le-Saulnier,
near Doubs (Jura) ever since. 
Surprisingly, the somewhat surreal image which
beams out from the box has changed little since it was created by Benjamin
Rabier in 1924, although the original single portion pack has since progressed
through three, eight, twelve, sixteen or even twenty-four silvery triangles.
The packaging has progressed in more subtle ways, too, and nowadays the little
red opening strip - la languette - is a model of dependable efficiency.
And what of the contents? The French have an enviable way of taking even convenience foods seriously, and la Vache qui rit ( or Laughing Cow... la Vaca qui rie.. according to where in the world you buy it) is no exception, although it would require a truly discerning palate to detect the presence of Emmenthal, Gruyère, Gouda and even Cheddar in the recipe. Such is its popularity, however, that today the Bel dairy empire requires no fewer than one hundred and twenty-five thousand vaches to meet the daily demand for its products. With jobs for life, no wonder they're laughing...
La Génie de Lajaunie
The brief flash
of yellow. A metallic tinkle. The furtive passage of a hand pressed to the
lips. Such are the component parts of an esoteric ritual practised by the
cult followers of le cachou Lajaunie.
What has changed beyond all expectation, is the popularity of the little black bombers. In the early 1900s just four employees set their sights on hand-packing 400,000 tins annually. Now the payroll has blossomed slightly (30+) in order to satisfy a demand measured in millions. After very many years of having been sold only over the chemists' counters, nowadays they're everywhere - even rubbing shoulders with the KissCool mints and Hollywood gum at the hypermarché checkouts.
Santons...(miniature saints) were traditionally made in plaster or wood for the home, after
post-Revolution church closures. Now made in terracotta, they are mostly
used at Christmas in the nativity Crèche. 
Arterra have developed the santon, and make beautifully figured characters from all walks of life. Visit their shop and studio in Le Panier district in Marseille where you can see them being made and decorated. Atelier Arterra, Marseille, www.santons-arterra.com
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