The traditional baguette is a staple of life in France – but a study has prompted calls for the size of our daily bread to be reduced, in order to avoid waste.
Although it’s common enough to see people in France with a couple of sticks under their arm, ritually chewing off the warm end (the crouton) as they leave the boulangerie, it seems that we’re throwing a fair amount away.
Bosses at the Too Good To Go food waste app commissioned a study into the eating habits of French households and found that six out of 10 people throw out some bread away every day.
The study found that 41 percent estimate they chuck away half a baguette a month – figures that mean that nearly 28 million of us chuck away nearly 168 million loaves every year. That’s not counting the smaller amounts thrown out.
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More than six billion baguettes are baked each year in France and UN agency Unesco inscribed the tradition in its ‘intangible cultural heritage’ list in 2022.
A true baguette – known as un tradition – has just four ingredients; flour, water, yeast and salt and is baked in a steam oven to give it the distinctive crispy crust and soft interior. Its lack of preservatives and chemicals make it delicious and nutritious, but also mean that the baguettes go hard after a day or so.
“This is a classic problem of overconsumption,’ Meleyne Rabot, CEO of the app, told Le Parisien. “As it’s a cheap product, we’re disconnected from its environmental value.”
To combat food waste, bosses behind the app have suggested that we should cut the size of our daily baguette – which measure between 55cm and 65cm on average.
Changing lifestyle habits, with more people living alone, are cited as possible reasons for the sheer amount of bread finding its way into the bin.
As well as cutting down the size of a baguette, bosses at the app have suggested that boulangeries should offer half baguettes to those who want it, and point out that bread can be stored in a freezer to extend their life.
“After a few days, a baguette can be rinsed under water and then baked in the oven to do the job,” says Mathews Madel, baker at the Parisian bakery Chamboule, quoted by the newspaper.
It is also possible to have fun with recipes, turning stale bread into French toast, croutons in soup, or breadcrumbs.
Older bread can also be turned into breadcrumbs, croutons for soups or salads, or pain perdu – the classic dessert made with old bread and custard.