As I have traveled around the town of Angers, I have noticed that there are a large number of boulangeries, or bakeries, in every part of town. Boulangeries are common like corner stores in the United States, except their products are much more specialized. At every meal with my school and my host family I have had access to bread and I have realized it is a staple in the French diet even more so than my beloved cheese. It is not unusual to see someone riding their bike or walking around holding only a baguette. This icon of France has me wondering why bread is so important and readily accessible in France.

This is a meal I shared with several fellow exchange students. We had pizza and salad, and of course French bread.

In this picture, other than the appetizer of duck pate, you can see the French bread scattered in front of students plates at lunch time.

As I looked online, many places suggested that once bread became part of the culture it has been unmovable. As with any cultural food, it has been accepted and loved by the people for so long that its existence is not questioned. It is easily made and accessible so it was only natural for it to rise to an important place in the French diet. One site even suggested that the term “bread winner” is relating the importance of obtaining bread to the person with the largest pay. While I found this information interesting, I felt that there was more to be learned about the place of French bread in the culture here.
I asked a French friend why he felt bread was so important in France. While he relayed the information previously mentioned, he added an important new detail. Grain is in abundance here, and as grain is so easily made in to bread it became an important food to eat. Bread is easily accessible because the grain and other ingredients to make bread were very easily accessible and therefore cheap. So what began as an easy resource for food has become one of the most important foods in French culture and an international symbol of the country.
Maggie