Does French food need rescuing? — guardian.co.uk

France's proud food tradition is being crushed under layers of reheated lasagne, according to a leading restaurant union that is lobbying for a new law to protect chefs who are cooking from scratch. French politicians are considering drawing up a restaurant "appellation", similar to the system already used in wine, which could only be used by outlets cooking food in-house and from fresh. Leading the charge to open this proverbial can of worms is Synhorcat, a national union for restaurant, cafe and hotel owners. It cites a recent study that suggests a third of France's 100,000 restaurants are using "industrial products". These, it says, are not "true" restaurants. And that's before starting on the estimated 50,000 fast-food joints, from McDonald's to local kebab houses.

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