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I moved to France for the cake – and then learned to love British baking
Columnist Sarah Henshaw rediscovers the British baking tradition of comfort, jam and just having a go
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Is it time to shorten France's school holidays?
Pascal Bressoux, professor of educational sciences at the University of Grenoble Alpes, explains why the school timetables need a rethink
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Savoyards poke fun at Parisians over snow disruption
A few centimetres shut down capital but for those in Savoie ‘it’s time to clear the chalet steps so no one slips after an apero’
True stars in the kitchen
Michelin’s system of giving restaurants stars has gone far beyond its initial purpose of indicating somewhere reliable to eat
The restaurant business in France has become a pressurised contest to produce extraordinary dishes using idiosyncratic combinations of novelty ingredients. Top chefs can only try to push ‘best-chef-ness’ beyond its outer limits.
Most diners, however, want something else. They know – although it is heresy to suggest it – that you cannot beat a traditional dish home-cooked by someone who knows what he/she is doing using local ingredients and served in agreeable but unpretentious surroundings.
Anyone who stumbles across such a restaurant does not care whether it has stars or not.
