France to combat use of 'factory foods' in restaurants by adding a 'homemade' label next to dishes o - Polidicks

[img]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02974/BEWR0P_2974946b.jpg[/img] [img]http://blogs-images.forbes.com/ceciliarodriguez/files/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-15-at-9.37.40-PM.png[/img] [img]http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.1915883!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg[/img] [QUOTE]This logo, in two black and white versions, provided Wednesday July, 16, 2014 by the French Trade Ministry shows the new symbol indicating your menu choice is made in-house. [/QUOTE][h=2][/h] [QUOTE]PARIS — Restaurant-goers in France will start seeing a funny little symbol on their menus this week: a skillet with a house on top, indicating your menu choice is made in-house.It's part of a new law meant to battle against the surprising amount of factory-made, prepackaged food in French restaurants, and celebrate the country's culinary traditions. However, many in the industry say the law doesn't go far enough, because it allows dishes made from frozen, pre-peeled or pre-cut products to count as homemade. France's chief of consumer affairs, Carole Delga, told The Associated Press that the logo would better inform customers about what they're getting, and highlight restaurants' craftsmanship. "It's about sending a message that France is a country where we eat well, where we have skills, especially cooking skills," she said. "We wanted to give concrete tools for tourists and for French people, and recognize cooking as an integral part of our French identity." While UNESCO put French cuisine on its World Heritage List in 2010, two recessions in recent years have driven more and more French chefs to resort to prepackaged food to cut costs. And France is a champion of industrial food, with companies specializing in frozen foods or dishes that can be prepared quickly and look homemade. Alain Dutournier, cook and spokesperson for the Culinary College of France, a nonprofit supporting French gastronomy, is among those who think the law makes it too easy for restaurants to claim a dish is homemade. "It's really not very serious. I thought it would be more rigorous and precise," he said. "Once again, they are choosing to serve the interest of the food-processing industry." Diners at Crom'Exquis, a restaurant in Paris' 8th arrondissement, gave the new law mixed reviews. Anne-Laure Bernard called it "a great tool." There is an exception for potatoes. Dubbed by French media the "McDonald's exception," it means that no one making French fries out of pre-peeled potatoes can claim to be "homemade."[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.therecord.com/living-story/4634991-france-battles-against-industrial-restaurant-food-by-defining-homemade-/[/url] Having worked as a cook in commercial kitchens before, this is a good news. Nowadays, too many restaurants serve frozen food or factory 'ready made' food for $20-30 or even $40. That is just cheating customers, and there's no real effort being put in. Sure, it'll sucks for this industry due to manpower crunch, but at least it keeps the quality of the food up. I used to work in a seafood restaurant at the airport, and while the salmon comes in whole and is butchered, the soups, chicken, fish and clams were either frozen, or powdered. And they charge like $20 for the chicken. Hell, the pizza was made with frozen puff pastries. Very little effort is put into it, and it cost $20 or more for a small fucking square pizza. When I had my internship at a rather reputable hotel chain, the buffet was full of ready made stuff, besides the cooked ones. The sushi was bought from a sushi chain, everytime they ran out of sushi and had to top up, they just open to sushi platter with the logo of the sushi chain and place the new ones at the counter. Even the smoked salmon and ham still were in their wrapper when I had to open and top up the buffet counter. Its sad when I see guest having to pay $65 for dinner for all this ready made crap. Oh, and the crabs weren't even fresh, they were dead, chopped and send to us a day before, and they smell bad. And fuck powdered mash potatoes, the dish alone tells you how much a effort a restaurant puts into its food.

I was an unpaid intern at a steak house as part of a school project quite a few years ago, and a lot of stuff came from cans or jars. I remember even the whipped cream they used for desserts was ready made from a can.

Lol, I hope that day never comes to Argentina. It surprises me though, is that something seen at any kind of restaurant, be it cheap or expensive? Good or bad?

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;45417680]Lol, I hope that day never comes to Argentina. It surprises me though, is that something seen at any kind of restaurant, be it cheap or expensive? Good or bad?[/QUOTE] Almost any restaurant does it this days. Because being in the kitchen is a 'dirty' job for so called 'low life scums', locals wouldn't want to do it. And so they have to look for foreigners. But even then, there is still not enough people for this industry. So how to solve the manpower crunch? Cheap, factory made crap. Its faster, since you could just cook up something that normally would had taken hours to prepare, right in front of you. But you risk the drop in food quality, and the craftsmanship. Even cakes now are outsourced, so many cakes and breads and bakeries buy premade cakes and macarons in factories. Its sad really. [editline]17th July 2014[/editline] I mean, I can understand if they use premade stuff in fastfood places like KFC or Mcdonalds, I'm not going to expect some guy to cut french fries to exact size, or burgers to be seared perfectly, but restaurants serving proper food like steaks or roasted meats for example, shouldn't have to resort to frozen food as an excuse.

[QUOTE=Ignhelper;45416866] Having worked as a cook in commercial kitchens before, this is a good news. Nowadays, too many restaurants serve frozen food or factory 'ready made' food for $20-30 or even $40. That is just cheating customers, [/QUOTE] Did people willing pay for and enjoy the food? If so, then they weren't cheated. They got exactly what they paid for.

I have to say, restaurant food is pretty good despite being premade, way better than canned food you find at the super market. Is it possible to find that food anywhere? Restaurant quality at home with all of the effort of canned spaghetti :v:

gordon ramsey would be proud

I don't get it with some people. Nobody is actually trying to trick you into thinking crap canned foods are home made. You should know what you're eating and you shouldn't have to have a little picture next to the food to tell you.

[QUOTE=Pantz Master;45419501]I don't get it with some people. Nobody is actually trying to trick you into thinking crap canned foods are home made. You should know what you're eating and you shouldn't have to have a little picture next to the food to know tell you.[/QUOTE] have you watched kitchen nightmare? the guys this law is for are the ones that totally are trying to trick you into thinking crap canned foods are home made

[QUOTE=Sableye;45419518]have you watched kitchen nightmare? the guys this law is for are the ones that totally are trying to trick you into thinking crap canned foods are home made[/QUOTE] And scamming you by charging it $20-$40

[QUOTE=Sableye;45419518]have you watched kitchen nightmare? the guys this law is for are the ones that totally are trying to trick you into thinking crap canned foods are home made[/QUOTE] There are already laws saying that you can't lie to your customers about this. Adding a little picture does nothing if the restaurant wants to lie to you.

I like that logo, it's clever yet effective. I go on vacation to France each year, so I'll hopefully be seeing the symbol on restaurants in the future (going to France in 3 days or so, but they got till january 1st to get their shit together, but as far as I know I'd just rush in that symbol on your menu if everything is homemade)

brilliant symbol. it's pot with a roof on top of it and so it looks like a house, i.e. homemade. simple and effective

expert culinary tip: don't eat in shit restaurants and you won't have to worry about this in the first place

I'd be happy to see this in Germany as well. I often wonder how much of that stuff they sell here is really "home made".

Oh yeah this stuff is the norm in Pub restaurants and cheap eat outs, I absolutely hate it. You're playing building blocks with food rather than making it.

People still go to pubs and pay 2-3 times what the exact same alcohol costs at a store. Maybe it's not only about the food, but also about the experience?

There used to be a bakery near me who would just order their products from a rival bakery literally 5 minutes down the hill and mark the prices up 20-30%. Not sure if that would apply under this ruling, but it's nice to see France is doing something about it. Now bring it to the UK. [editline]17th July 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=sloppy_joes;45421005]People still go to pubs and pay 2-3 times what the exact same alcohol costs at a store. Maybe it's not only about the food, but also about the experience?[/QUOTE] Yes but in a pub you know you're being ripped off. This isn't disallowing restaurants from serving pre-packaged food, it just tells customers whether it is made in-house or not. The more information available to the customer the better.

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;45421005]People still go to pubs and pay 2-3 times what the exact same alcohol costs at a store. Maybe it's not only about the food, but also about the experience?[/QUOTE] this is why I buy and beer on tap ( sometimes a shot of baily's at a pub.) and then buy a 6 pack or what-ever from a store instead cheaper that way and I don't go to pubs that don't have draft beer's.

[QUOTE=Ignhelper;45416866]Nowadays, too many restaurants serve frozen food or factory 'ready made' food for $20-30 or even $40. That is just cheating customers[/QUOTE] When you go to a restaurant you are not paying for the ingredients. Do you know how much fresh ingredients cost, compared to restaurant prices? It's minimal. I can make a $40 meal with ten dollars of fresh ingredients, it's usually [i]cheaper[/i] than frozen equivalents. The difference comes from labor, from the infrastructure and resources needed to prepare it. It's not just about the price, if they sold you food for a few bucks more than it's 'worth' they'd go out of business in a week.

[QUOTE=Pantz Master;45419501]I don't get it with some people. Nobody is actually trying to trick you into thinking crap canned foods are home made. You should know what you're eating and you shouldn't have to have a little picture next to the food to tell you.[/QUOTE] We shouldn't need it, but we do. A lot of people lie anyway. If you ask, "is X fresh?" they'll say a lot of the time that it is, because they think if it's frozen while it's "fresh" it's the same thing.