nourishing obscurity

Bernard Quartier, president of the National Federation of Cafes, Brasseries and Discotheques, doesn’t believe the trend is the result of new smoking or drink driving legislation. He says cafe owners simply haven’t been keeping up with the times.

“I think cafes are out of sync with society.” he says. “They were in sync during the 1950s, but they aren’t anymore. A cafe has to be clean. The coffee has to be good. In many cases the coffee isn’t good. The beer has to be good. And you have to be able to order non-alcoholic drinks, like fresh-squeezed orange juice or smoothies. You have to be able to find a newspaper in a cafe, or find a television where sporting events are broadcast. There has to be something to draw people.”

Quartier himself has owned eight different cafes, starting with the first one he bought at age 23. Today, he’s visiting his newest venture: an Italian-themed cafe in Paris’s upscale seventh district. The current owner is selling because the business isn’t making enough money. Quartier says he plans to reduce prices and serve food and drink from his home region, the Loire Valley. He also wants to organize art shows and literary evenings here to draw people.

While diversifying a cafe’s offerings may certainly be good advice, there appear to be other trends at work adding to the demise of cafe culture. Previous generations of cafe owners didn’t have to compete with social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Linked in, for example. These sites give people the impression they’re socializing from the comfort of their own homes, making it unnecessary to venture out to a cafe.

Christine Pujol, the head of UMIH, an industry group that represents France’s cafes and restaurants, says the disappearance of cafe culture is worrying on a broader level.

“We often say that cafes are a part of France’s national heritage – from a social, cultural and even architectural perspective,” Pujol says. “It’s very saddening to think that these places could disappear and that they will stop playing the social role they have been playing for so long.”

However, in recent years, classic French styles in music that first became popular in the early part of the 20th Century have been experiencing a comeback. Some of the most popular musicians on the current French music scene have been drawing inspiration from chanson, musette, and gypsy jazz. Icons of French music like Django Reinhardt, Edith Piaf and Georges Brassens have been embraced by young French musicians who once disparaged their music as being of another era.

If that could be extended to the cafes and if the cafes could clean up their act a little, perhaps there will be a return to cafe culture of yesteryear. Honore de Balzac once said that cafes are the parliament of the people. It would be sad if people let it fall derelict.

In Britain too, the demise of the pub culture is regretted. There is a movement to Save our Pubs and Clubs but a lot has to happen, not least a lifting of taxes and perhaps even people getting a little tired of blogging might help.

French cafe, by Constance Fahey

Filed under: Leisure, travel & sport, Society & human issues