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My answer would be because they taste so delicious. There is nothing to beat a freshly baked, warm, crusty baguette purchased from a local boulangerie. The challenge is always to get the bread home before eating it on the way! The baguette is definitely one of the most famous symbols of France.

When we are in France we don’t eat baguettes every day but if we have visitors staying, they always request a visit to the bakery to buy a French stick. Who can blame them when this bread is so tasty?!

Did you know?

  • There are over 30,000 boulangeries (bakeries) in France. According to the French Bread Law (yes, there really is a law relating to bread) bakeries must make bread on the premises to be called a ‘boulangerie’.

  • The French bread law also states that traditional baguettes can only be made with four ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast.

  • Neither must they contain any additives or preservatives. This is why baguettes go stale so quickly and are purchased every day or even more than once a day.

  • According to the Observatoire du Pain (a scientific ‘Bread Observatory’) the French get through 320 baguettes every second. This equates to an average of half a baguette per person per day and 10 billion every year.

  • There is even a renowned bread competition, ‘Le Grand Prix de la Baguette’. This has taken place every year, in Paris, since 1994. The result decides who makes the very best loaf in the city. This is an indication of how seriously the French take their bread.

  • 98% of French people eat bread everyday.

  • 30 million baguettes are eaten every day.

  • Bread, or rather lack of, was one of the fundamental factors that contributed to the start of the French Revolution.

  • In 2018 President Macron suggested that the French baguette should be listed as a UNESCO cultural treasure. I assume he thought that as Naples pizza is now officially recognized by UNESCO, the French baguette deserved the same honour.

  • In fact, an application has been submitted this year. If successful this will mean that the baguette becomes part of UNESCO’s ‘intangible treasures’. The decision will be announced later in 2022. Watch this space!

If you’d like to know even more about the popularity of the baguette, do have a look at the clip below.

Are you a fan of the baguette?

I am linking this post with the very interesting #PoCoLo