Their disinclination toward fast food as well as their smugness over Gallic gastronomy notwithstanding, the French seems to be getting addicted to a simple foreign dish popular globally. It may seem to be incredible to many, but the fact is that currently the French are consuming more pizza than anyone else, except the Americans!
This startling fact, especially for the French, who took pride in upholding their high culinary standards, was revealed in a recent study undertaken by food consultancy Gira Conseil to explore the eating habits of the French. In fact, the findings have infuriated a section of culinary experts in the European country, who feel that there has been a considerable erosion of French culinary customs.
The study found that the French are not only ardently fond of pizza and burgers, but they collectively consumed 819 million pizzas in 2015, which is 10 million more compared to the record-setting amount of pizza they ate in 2014, Food Network reported.
At the same time, last year, the French consumed more hamburgers compared to ham-and-butter sandwich, the staple fast food in France. Statistically, they consumed more than 1.19 billion hamburgers, an increase of nearly 12 percent from the previous year.
Interestingly, just a few years ago, even mentioning hamburger as a potential dinner menu item in a French home was regarded as an extremely bad taste. According to the report, some would even consider this as an insult. Contrary to this, the hamburger has successfully invaded the gastronomic firmament in France and today almost all restaurants in the country are offering their own version of the original Italian dish, which is most popular in the United States these days.
The French have really adopted the pizza, Forbes quoted Bernard Boutbould, head honcho of Gira Conseil, as saying. Boutbould further said that currently over 75 percent restaurants in France offer burger on their menu.
While some experts claim that the French culture, which is based on conviviality, is the main reason for the growing craze for pizza, the study suggests that the price of the food is behind its popularity. In difficult times, spending anything between €6 and €10 makes pizza a wonderful, fulfilling meal.
