Do you know the difference between AB and AOC? Le terroir and pays? How about la culture raisonnée or biodynamisme? No? You’re not alone. With this mouthful of labels, buying food in France is getting complicated. If you want to eat organic – biologique, or bio to its friends – what do you look for?
The French government encourages and promotes bio food with the official Agriculture Biologique AB logo. This easily spotted cheery green sign guarantees a minimum 95 per cent certified organic ingredients. That’s pretty good for starters. Now, where will you find bio foods?
Organic food is a booming business in France. In a country that is reportedly the EU’s largest pesticides consumer, this is good news for people concerned about healthy food. With more than 40 per cent of the population eating organic at least once a month it’s not surprising that most supermarkets are muscling in on the bio act.
The shelves of organic food are groaning under the weight as the range of food expands. The organic market began with a few safe products such as chocolate and milk but it’s getting easier to find organic alternatives to mainstream products. The price is often higher, just as in the UK, but by buying organic you’re making an active consumer statement about the food you want to eat. And in France, food – especially good food – is a priority.
Specialist shops are flourishing as well. Founded in the 1980s, Biocoop – the chain of organic food shops – had a turnover of more than €300 million (£236 million) in 2007, up by 22 per cent on 2006. Yet even with over 290 shops, Biocoop only represents around 13 per cent of the French organic food market. Every year they publish a free guide to their shops throughout France – it’s an indispensable guide to finding organic food near you.
It’s not just the supermarkets and specialist shops that are getting in on the bio food market. Stalls of organic produce are flourishing at traditional markets alongside the growth of dedicated organic markets throughout France. The French chain of garden-centres Botanic recently announced the surprising addition of a bio food market to some of its outlets. Why? Demand is high enough to push aside the plants to make way for the produce. Time-pressed shoppers and consumers want to munch on their organic apples while waiting for the real thing to grow in their garden.
Yet all is not perfect with organic food. If your organic melon comes by plane from South America, with all the packaging and fuel involved, it defeats the point of turning bio in the first place. The logical alternative is to shop locally and seasonally. The food may have been grown with pesticides but it won’t have travelled far to get to your plate. It’s a balance – more chemicals versus less greenhouse gases. Where better to start than the local fresh food markets, an icon of French life?
Seasonal produce
French markets are renowned for their fresh seasonal produce, but once you start looking they are not always as simple as they seem. There is some confusion about those handwritten labels standing among the piles of fruit and vegetables. For some folk, a sign reading pays means the food is grown in the local region, for others it can mean that it comes from anywhere in France. So those potatoes marked pays should mean local spuds, compared to those marked France, which will have journeyed across the country. If you’re determined to find out, then just ask the seller where they really came from. With the notion of le terroir (an almost untranslatable term meaning a strong relationship with local territory) there is an undeniable pride in the Frenchness of French products. Sellers proud of le terroir will even name the local village or town of origin. Asking about the food just shows that you care.
Having your veggies delivered in a weekly basket is a neat alternative to hunting for food yourself. A quick turn on the internet will reveal the spreading network of paniers direct, where the produce will be in season, local and often organic as well. Local is just the start. To get to grips with the paniers direct philosophy you need to get used to the idea of produits fermiers from a farm but not necessarily small scale, exploitations familiales and artisanales for family or small-scale business and saisonnalité for seasonal food. Don’t hope for organic local bananas!
Elsewhere on the foodie scale are labels such as AOC and Label Rouge. These are benchmarks for other forms of non-organic quality control. The AOC label (appellation d’origine contrôlée) is well known in the wine industry, but it also has its place in the food chain. AOC celebrates that philosophy of le terroir. Put simply, it guarantees that your wine, cheese and any other AOC product comes from a very specific region, has the same ingredients and corresponds to a strict list of criteria. Take Roquefort, the first cheese to be awarded AOC status; it’s not just a deliciously rich blue cheese. To be true Roquefort it has to be made from the milk of sheep that have grazed within a defined region near the town of Roquefort itself and then refined in the unique caves for at least three months.
Label Rouge on the other hand is not a geographically limited label. It shows that the foods, and particularly meat products, correspond to quality standards and are free of genetically modified organisms. These also apply to production and husbandry, for example all animal feed should be 100 per cent vegetable. With some 500 foods Label Rouge products are popular and slightly easier on the wallet than organic food and easily found in France supermarkets, . They won’t be organic but they are produced respecting the environment, animal welfare and taste quality. Label Rouge products are worth looking out for.
Strong support
And then what about wine? After all those labels you’ll need to sit down with a good glass of something strong, but AB, AOC, la culture raisonnée or even biodynamic? There are some good AB wines on the market and the range is increasing. However, being fully organic is risky for the winegrower, especially in the wetter areas of France. Watching the vines mildew and rot for lack of treatment is financial suicide. An alternative is la culture raisonnée (as natural as possible) which won’t be officially labelled on the bottles but it has a strong support among wine makers. The fewer chemicals there are in the soil and on the grape, the healthier the environment, and therefore the wine. Growers treat vine mildew only where and when it’s needed with the traditional cure of bouillie bordelaise (copper and lime). It’s the best compromise between principles and practicalities.
Biodynamic wine growing or biodynamisme is the latest trend to hit wine making. It has its roots in the 1920s teachings of Rudolf Steiner. The philosophy considers the vineyard in the context of lunar and cosmic rhythms. It goes way beyond organic. Vines are treated with homeopathic remedies buried in cows’ horns and the grapes are harvested according to lunar phases. It sounds wacky but its supporters are adamant that it works. Biodynamisme is a labour-intensive method but it pays off. Finely tuned wine tasters insist that they can taste the difference in a wine bottled during a full moon. And anything that makes great wine can’t be bad. Not surprisingly, there is no official government label to identify a biodynamic product. To find biodynamic and la culture raisonnée wines you should start with a good caviste (wine seller).
Now, with all those labels on hand are you ready to face the vegetables? Armed with the key vocabulary you’ll be able to track down the best of what’s on offer near you. Knowing where your food comes from, and the conditions in which it was produced, will just add to your enjoyment of fine fresh French food. In an ideal world your fresh food market, within walking distance, will sell local AB, AOC produce. And all for the price of AFE – a few euros! Happy shopping…
Fact file
www.biocoop.fr
www.agencebio.org
www.botanic.com
Use the internet to search ‘your town + paniers direct‘ for deliveries of locally grown food