One of the recurring images for many of life in France is people walking on the street carrying fresh bread, usually a baguette. But how true is the image, and how much bread do French people really consume?
TheLocal.fr recently took a look at those questions in response to a reader question, and turned up some interesting data, with the help of such organizations as L’Observatoire du Pain (The Bread Observatory) and Snacking.fr.
Among the stats:
- 35,000 bakeries in France; down from years ago but still quite a few!
- 12 million bakery customers a day
- 6 billion baguettes a year (and that’s just the baguettes!)
- 320 baguettes a second are produced across the country
- Average consumption is half a baguette a day
- Baguettes and all others together, average weekday bread consumption is 105gr down from 114 in 2015.
- Younger people eat less bread: a third of those under 35 eat bread daily while two-thirds of those over 35 do.
- And, an excellent reason to live in Paris: 94% of Parisians live within a five-minute walk of one of the city’s 1,180 boulangeries.
Image: Bread varieties at Pain d’Antan, Paris (PHeymont/TravelGumbo)
