The bread, only in fiction
The baguette is almost a national symbol in France. Few are those who do not comply with the daily ritual of going to their boulangerie favorite to buy the freshly baked loaf of bread: from the poorest of students to stressed executives passing through housewives or television stars.
Approximately 180 bakeries compete each year in the contest for the best baguette in Paris whose prize, apart from 4,000 euros, makes the winner the official supplier of the house of the President of the Republic , that is, Mr. Sarkozy and his new wife, Carla Bruni. So the mediatic couple has the privilege of eating at all times, at least on paper, the best baguette in town.
This year the prestigious prize has gone to a bakery in the charismatic neighborhood of Montmartre, Au Levain d'Antan. We couldn't waste the opportunity to get to know what has become Carla Bruni's bakery and we went there, camera in hand, to buy a loaf of bread and find out more about the delights of this bread.
Its owner and manager, the artisan baker Pascal Barillon proudly welcomes us into the small crowded space . "The award has meant a 30% increase in his business," he explains. "Not bad these days." Pascal tells us that in this 2011 edition his baguettes competed with 174 other baguettes. Each of them received a score based on very precise criteria about its appearance, cooking, smell and taste. All an art.
But what about Carla Bruni, will she like her bread? The lady at the counter discreetly reveals to us that Bruni "doesn't eat a lot of bread, which is to say a lot". bread with Monsieur Le Président and Carla Bruni.
Clients at Au Levain d'Antan