Haute cuisine provides the fuel for some highbrow debate
If a case were ever to be made against teleconferencing, Paris would rate high in the argument. After all, there is something profoundly wrong with any technology which reduces anyone's opportunities to visit the ville lumiPre.
This thought crossed my mind as I sipped a pre-lunch Pineau de Charente in the belle Jpoque dining room of a grand hotel. How often, I wondered, must the city have been included in a roadshow program for the sheer lift to the spirits it could provide? It's the type of lift which could never be had from a visit to Frankfurt or Zurich.
The waiter (courteous but never intrusive) gave me a menu. It was written in the language of CarLme and Escoffier, without florid explanations of the dishes on offer. The customer was expected to know not just the broad difference between Sole Montreuil and Sole Marivaux but the precise composition of each dish.
I turned to my companion for help. AndrJ, now in his 70s, is the doyen of an old brokerage house. Impeccably dressed and mannered, he is someone for whom terms like savoir-faire and joie de vivre - terms that lack any exact English equivalents - might have been invented.
'You must forgive me for bringing you to a place like this,' he said. 'But I don't feel entirely comfortable in places where the waiter tells you his first name and describes 'today's specials' in great detail. There are not many places like this left and soon there will be none. Another impact of the global market,' he added, with a twinkle in his eye.
'I suppose it's a shame the Champs ElysJes is full of fast-food places,' I sympathized. 'But the world moves on.'
'Yes, but to where?' he asked. 'You must forgive me if I find it hard to accept a global culture geared to the tastes and attention span of an ill-educated 13-year-old. You see it everywhere: in food, music, writing. Would-be practitioners no longer take the trouble to learn their craft and the public no longer take the trouble to learn to appreciate it. We live in an age of instant gratification.' 'Including the capital markets?' I asked.
'Including the capital markets,' he replied. 'Look at South East Asia. What's happened there was inherent in what was happening when investors around the world were throwing money at the tiger economies. But they tried to take no notice because there were quick profits to be had.'
'You can't blame the markets,' I said.
'I don't blame the markets any more than I blame foxes for eating chickens; it is inherent in their nature. But the prudent farmer takes steps to protect his chickens from the fox. Unrestrained markets are leading to two things: the destruction of employment in the west and the destruction of traditional values in the east. You know, Marxism may have collapsed but that does not mean we should ignore entirely what Marx himself had to say.'
'About capitalism containing within itself the seeds of its own destruction?'
'Exactly. The fact no-one is advocating an alternative doesn't mean the system won't collapse from its own contradictions. We expect governments to ensure stability by meeting obligations to the domestic economy and to the global markets. Can they do both?'
'You don't believe the solution to unemployment is to create new public sector jobs and to have people work shorter hours for the same pay?' I asked.
'Maybe not. But that was the platform on which Monsieur Jospin stood and the one which was given a massive endorsement by the French people. We may no longer seriously believe in liberty, fraternity and equality. But surely we do still believe in government by the people, of the people and for the people? The markets believe that all problems are technical and are a result of bad administration. Maybe we should not be talking about a crisis in capitalism but a crisis in democracy.'
'But you said there was no credible alternative,' I said.
'Not to you and me. But there are plenty of people offering alternatives that are attractive to the people. We don't have an inner city problem in France because we banish our problems to the suburbs. But there are problems there and across the Mediterranean which may be out of our sight but should not be out of our minds. We are facing what Benjamin Barber described as the Jihad versus MacWorld.'
Just then a waiter placed our SautJ de Truffes Brillat-Saverin in front of us. With mounting appreciation, AndrJ gazed at it, savored the aroma, then tasted it. I followed. I remain infinitely grateful that there is something more to life than quarter pounders with cheese.