French dining concerns

My husband, Jim, and I spent May and June of 2014 in a rental home in the small village of Paziols in southern France, very close to the Spanish border. Our intention was to find a location where the residents didn’t speak English. We found it!

We had progressed to Level 5 in Rosetta Stone, but, though the residents seemed to understand us, we had difficulty understanding their dialect laced with Spanish and Catalan. Nevertheless, we had marvelous experiences in an area that’s been rather undiscovered by Americans.

We were under the misguided belief that all Frenchmen can cook. Not true! Our first meal in an airport-hotel restaurant was excellent, and we thought it would only get better. We usually ate one meal a day in a restaurant, most often lunch, and experienced several expensive but mediocre ones.

Our small village market carried the Sunday London papers, and we read — in the June 1, 2014, Sunday Times article “French Have Fill of Restaurants’ Pre-cooked Food” by Adam Sage — that President François Hollande’s government is launching a campaign against precooked, vacuum-packed frozen meals.

A growing number of companies sell ready-made food with traditional-sounding names, such as “scallop and cod cassoulet with Riesling sauce” or “salmon and sorrel terrine.” A law that was to have gone into effect in France on July 14, 2014, would create a state logo to be placed on restaurant menus to indicate if an item was fait maison (homemade) and not merely thawed and reheated. 

A study of restaurant, café and deli owners found that 31% of restaurants used prepared food and determined that, at the prices charged, the markups on menus were tenfold. Some chefs believed that percentage was closer to 75%. 

Also, for the very first time in France, the fast-food industry earned more revenue than traditional restaurants. (This is apparent in the waistlines of the population, especially young people.) 

Over the course of two months, we did find many small wonderful restaurants and returned to them often. Usually they were run by a husband-and-wife or family team. And the weekly markets were terrific.

One of our favorite lunch places was Restaurant Le Tertre (avenue de la Grande Plage; phone +33 0 553931608) in Le Barcarés, a beach town on the coast north of Perpi­gnan. This small restaurant, directly across from the Place du Tertre, specialized in moules (mussels) and was run by a charming young couple.

The portion of moules was huge, and the price was reasonable at €13.50 (near $14.50) with fries, €12 without. We had a 50cl bottle of really good rosé for €12. We returned whenever we were in that area.

On our last night in France we treated ourselves to a one-star Michelin restaurant, and what a treat it was! We stayed at the hotel/restaurant La Bergerie (Allée Pech Marie, 11600 Aragon, France; phone +33 0 468261065, www.labergeriearagon.com), just north of Carcassonne.

We ordered the menu du jour, with a paired wine for each course (€60 per person, total). Each course was a small plate. There were three courses, and each was preceded by a palate cleanser of excellent sorbet and, at the beginning, an amuse-bouche (appetizer). The meal was superb. Vive la différence!

SALLY MEE

Pleasanton, CA