It is good for everything,” masked shopper Yves
Lagrellette said this week as he made what has
now become his weekly baguette run in Le
Vesinet, west of Paris. He bought five in one go,
for freezing. He used to buy one daily.
When the government locked down France
earlier this month, shutting down schools
and stores deemed non-essential and forcing
families indoors, it also gave bakers special
dispensation to work every day of the week if
they wish.
Baker Margot Hazard says she and her husband,
Cyril, feel that with their breads and cakes, they
are providing a slice of normalcy to customers
who line up, standing apart, outside their door,
respecting each other’s space and handwritten
signs on the window that read: “Three people
maximum in the bakery.”
“The work really is tough at the moment,”
Hazard said. “Some clients are very worried
about us touching their bread and touching
their change. They are all a bit on edge. And we
are on edge, too.”
But “it is super important for everyone’s morale,”
she added. “It’s important that people eat what
they want to eat, to keep their spirits up.”
“A life without bread, cheese and wine is not
French,” she said.
Customers Marie and Jean-Claude Lemeux, now
work-from-home bankers, agreed. No sooner
had he bought their baguette that he ripped
one end off and nibbled it, right there in the
street. That crusty nub of pleasure even has its
own name — “le quignon.”
“It’s better fresh. It’s hot, crusty,” he said. And
baguette-buying “allows us to get out.”