Our Daily Bread

Fourteen years ago, when we bought our house in France, a very good French friend impressed upon us the importance of getting to know le boulanger (the baker), le boucher (the butcher), le poissonnier (the fishmonger) and le pharmacien (the pharmacist). We ignored her advice about the pharmacist, and we bought our meat in the local supermarket, but over the years we have heeded her advice about the fishmonger and the baker. Having a house within a stone’s throw of the Mediterranean Sea, and the abundance of fresh fish, we felt that was useful advice, as were her words about getting to know your local baker. Over the last ten years or so we have been to the same boulangerie and enjoyed good service and wonderful bread. In that time we have built up quite a rapport with the ladies behind the counter, and we remember fondly, Isabelle who always kept a fresh baguette under the counter for us, as she knew our liking for une grasse matinée, (a lie in or a late morning). She was known affectionately by us and guests who stayed with us as Madame Hair, because of her beautifully styled coiffure!

Sadly Isabelle moved away from Canet two or three years ago, but the baker remained the same, and so although there was no baguette under the counter, we still enjoyed the same quality of bread. Imagine our dismay then last September just before we left the South of France to come home for the winter months, to learn that our boulangerie would be closing in the first week of October, to open a week later after building modifications, and under new management and a new boulanger!

It was with some apprehension that we made our way to buy our bread on the first morning of our recent stay in Canet at the end of April. Would the bread be as good as it always had been, would the ladies behind the counter be as friendly as those we had known over the years? Thankfully we were not disappointed, indeed we were pleasantly surprised as we entered the shop, everything beautifully displayed and a very warm welcome from the young lady, who over the course of a fortnight we have got to know quite well.Our part of town, known as le village, as opposed to la plage, the beach or the seaside part of town, has four boulangeries, each with its own take on the humble baguette. Formerly, our baker’s take on the baguette was a softly baked stick covered in Semolina flour, which they called La Canetoise. Sadly that has gone, but we now have a choice between La Tradition (that speaks for itself and needs no translation!) or La Quotidienne (the daily baguette) and we now ring the changes.

We are so pleased that we took the advice of our friend, and got to know the people who provide us with that most important part of the French diet, our daily bread. Nothing beats that walk to the bakery in the morning to buy a baguette, fresh from the ovens, still warm, and to go home and enjoy it with a good dollop of jam or marmalade. Good for the figure…I’m not so sure, but it’s certainly one of the pleasures of living in France!

(A special treat for us recently on May Day, Pain au Chocolat and Pain aux Figues)