Hotel Online
News for the Hospitality Executive


 
Some London Restaurants Clamor for Gourmet French
Bread Costing 10 Times the Average Price
By Gregory Katz, The Dallas Morning News
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News 

Nov. 26, 2002 -- LONDON � In London, shoppers can spend $1 million on a small three-bedroom house in a nondescript neighborhood, drop $150,000 on an Aston Martin coupe, or part with $4,000 for a custom-made suit from Gieves & Hawkes on Savile Row. 

And now they can spend 10 British pounds � about $16 � on a loaf of bread. 

The loaves are special, of course. Made by French bakers using French ingredients and a French stove designed by the late French breadmaster Lionel Poilane, they have become a symbol of success in fad-crazy London, where spending excessive amounts of money is a time-honored way to separate oneself from the crowd. 

It doesn't seem to matter that perfectly good, individually baked loaves of organic bread without a fancy logo can be purchased for about $1.50. 

Many Londoners, it seems, prefer to pay more than 10 times that for bread with a certified pedigree. 

"You can get it here on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but you have to come early. It sells out fast," said a beautifully dressed saleswoman at Fortnum and Mason's food hall, which provides delicacies to Queen Elizabeth II and others in the royal family. 

Poilane bread is also sold at Harrods, London's most famous store, and at some branches of Waitrose, an upscale grocery chain. It is served at several of London's Michelin-starred restaurants, where it is usually offered with foie gras or creamy cheeses. 

When the Poilane Bakery opened in London two years ago, branching out from its traditional base in Paris, the high price of a sourdough loaf caused sticker shock. But it attracted attention as well, and many skeptics were quickly won over by the taste and texture of the country-style, crusty bread. 

'Never tasted so good' Writing in Time Out magazine, Rachael Philipps advised Londoners to take home a Poilane loaf and try it in tandem with a regular loaf of white bread. After this taste test, she said, it would be impossible for anyone to return to the less-expensive product. 

"A simple slice of bread and butter never tasted so good," wrote Ms. Philipps, who also raved about the health-giving aspects of the Poilane loaf. 

The success of the bakery in London plays to Britons' ambivalent feelings about the French. Many English people love to complain about the French � said to be too arrogant and too rude for words � while spending all their money on French wine and French food. 

Mr. Poilane, the company chief who died in a helicopter crash with his wife and dog last month, said in what turned out to be his final interview that the bread's price tag caused a "scandal" at first in London. But he said Britons were slowly learning that premium bread made with the finest ingredients is worth the price. 

Like most Frenchmen, Mr. Poilane took a dim view of British cuisine: soggy roast beef, deep-fried fish and chips, for instance. However, he said he believed some Brits are developing refined taste buds after being exposed to other cultures when traveling. 

"The British people are sophisticated in many things � they invented the Rolls-Royce and 5 o'clock tea time � but bizarrely they are not very good about food," he said. "But they are improving, and now they are learning the difference between good bread and bad bread. What gives more pleasure than eating good bread?" 

It is a subject he was unusually passionate about. Most French love fresh bread, but Mr. Poilane went much further, arguing that bread played a defining role in history. 

"Bread is more than bread; it is the catalyst of civilization," he said the day before his death. "When people stopped being nomads, it was because they learned how to grow wheat for bread. Archeologists find that 10,000 years ago people were roasting the grains for bread. The plow was created in the quest for bread. 

"I'm convinced that the origin of capitalism was the storage of wheat." 

Mr. Poilane said it was no coincidence that "dough" is American slang for money. "It's the same in every language, where money is equated with bread. Bread was the first capital." 

Given these views, it is not surprising that the bread bearing his name is made the traditional way, using nothing more than flour, sea salt and water. Yeast is taboo. Each loaf takes about six hours to prepare. This is in marked contrast to what the Poilane people disdainfully refer to as "industrial bread," which usually takes about an hour. 

Although food technology has changed greatly since the first Poilane bakery was started in Paris by Mr. Poilane's father in 1932, the methods remain unchanged. 

The company has had many notable clients, from Salvador Dali to Lauren Bacall. Fresh loaves are sent out daily via FedEx to aficionados in the United States, Kuwait, Egypt and other countries. 

Maite Ithurbide, the French-born manager of the London bakery, said customers � including those abroad � do not mind paying extra because they know only natural ingredients are used. 

"People do not want additives, preservatives and chemicals in their bread," she said. "This is a very simple bread and a very healthy bread." 

She said that Mr. Poilane's eldest daughter, 18-year-old Apolonia, would take over the reins of the company now that her parents have died. The company's approach will remain the same, she said. 

Ms. Ithurbide has added shifts to meet the expanded demand for Poilane bread. Her goal is to turn the shop into a 24-hour operation. 

"We are hiring people and increasing deliveries," she said. 

"It is a surprise that we are doing so well." 

Not everyone is convinced, however. At the trendy Harvey Nichols department store in Knightsbridge, Cynthia Scharf recently scrutinized a loaf of Poilane before putting it down in favor of regular bread. 

"It really is good, but it's overpriced in London," she said. 

"It just depends on whether you want to spend that much on bread." 

-----To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com. 

(c) 2002, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. F, VLKAF, 


advertisement

To search Hotel Online data base of News and Trends Go to Hotel.OnlineSearch
Home | Welcome| Hospitality News | Classifieds| Catalogs& Pricing |
Viewpoint Forum | Ideas&Trends | Press Releases
Please contact Hotel.Onlinewith your comments and suggestions.