American connoisseur

 

One of the most undisputed clichés about the French is their passion for food in general and bread in particular. Bread, cheese, wine, what could be more French?

So you would expect a Frenchman to be the top expert on these matters, especially when it comes to bread. Hasn’t bread been the regular staple of French food for centuries? 

Wrong you are! The expert is an American, Steven L. Kaplan, a scholar who has been teaching French culture for years at Cornell University in New York and the author of numerous books on his pet subject: France in the 18th century, particularly regarding all things related to sustenance and nourishment. 

Several of Mr. Kaplan’s books are available in French. One of them, published in 1996, is dedicated to the bakers of Paris during the 18th century.

And two years ago Kaplan did what no French person ever did: he visited more than 600 bakeries in Paris (out of more than 1,200), buying up to 60 baguettes a day, and published a guide listing what he considered the best of them. The guide, titled “Cherchez Le Pain” (Looking For Bread) gives a thorough account of his research and findings and rates bakers and their products on a 20-point scale made up of 6 parameters for the product itself as well as 7 other parameters for the shop itself. Needless to say it is a very documented and technical book. And likely, most French people wouldn’t know 1% of what Mr. Kaplan knows about flour, yeast and how to make bread. 

Reading his book not only teaches so many things about the ingredients and techniques to turn them into a most delicious staple, it also provides unexpected insights of the post WW2 history of bread in France which, (and who remembers that?) was on the verge of becoming an industrialized tasteless product, laden with additives and bleaching components designed to make it look healthy when compared with the brown bread the French had to get by with during the war. 

Mr. Kaplan, who arrived in Paris for the first time in 1962, says he noticed a shift in the customs of consumers at the end of the 70s-80s when the professionals became conscious that French bread no longer was what it used to be. It was high time to react and return to the good old time when bakers actually knew their trade. Since then, a competition has taken place on this market with the creation of different brands of breads made the way they were in the past. 

In reconnaissance of his work and his deep knowledge of French history and the service rendered to French culture, Mr. Kaplan has been made a “Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters” by the then Minister for Cultural Affairs.

Isn’t Mr. Kaplan another example of what make the bonds between France and America something none of the partners would want to be deprived of?

Note 1: The two best bakers in Paris, according to Mr. Kaplan, are located rue Monge in the 5th district. He each gives them a grade of 18.35 out of 20 (Mr. Kaplan is very precise in his scoring…)

Note 2: The painting is “The Harvesters” (1565) by Pieter Bruegel, Metropolitan Museum of Arts in NY.