The meal, much more than an act of eating for the French
Why is the meal so important in France?
In France, where we spend around 2 hours 13 minutes at the table every day, meals play a societal role like in no other country. “ Being at the table means first of all meeting each other » comments Gilles Fumey for whom this rooting is linked to the Christian religion. “ In Christian countries, we have become accustomed to meeting to eat and drink sacred products such as meat or wine. The other particularity of France is that we have monarchs who in the 17th century used this symbolism to put themselves on stage. And it is this play that was called “gastronomy” during the Revolution. It then spread through the restaurant, first in the bourgeois world, then in the democratized world. This is what gives us the illusion that the meal at the table is a privileged moment in our culture. ».
The meal, a special family moment
Considered by the French as a pillar of family unity, the meal is a ritual that plays a major role in the family sphere. Despite the life changes that punctuate the daily lives of the French, the meal remains the key element of family balance for more than 9 out of 10 French people, as highlighted by the Opinion Way study on the importance of the meal carried out in September 2024 for Charal[1]. Indeed, the family meal is much more than a time devoted to the act of eating, it is also a special moment of sharing and exchange between family members. For 75% of French people, the family meal is so important that it even provides a suitable setting for important announcements. A family meal which is available as a festive meal on special occasions and which brings together the wider family circle, but also friends, around long tables. However, the festive meal, so dear to the French, is not a universal practice. “There are two regions in the world where the festive meal at the table is highlighted, it is the Chinese world and the Greco-Roman world which were at the origin of peasant societies. Peasants, at least in France, worked in the open air during the week and rested on Sunday. This Sunday meal is initially a peasant meal, but we have kept this tradition of staying together at the table to rebuild the world. », explains Gilles Fumey.
Meals in the professional sphere
For many French people, meals also play an important role in the professional environment, notably allowing them to build relationships within teams and providing a less formal setting for exchanging or negotiating. For younger employees, the business meal is an opportunity to let loose a little and talk about more personal subjects, while the most experienced are a little more wary of it. “ The business meal is about finding the moment that brings together the maximum conditions for an agreement. There is definitely a generational effect, but overall, it’s exactly like in a family, at the end of the day, when you want to calm children who are upset, you give them something to eat. Well, in a company, when you want to bring people together, the best way is less to make them chase a ball than to put them at the table! » observe Gilles Fumey.
The role of meals in geopolitics
History is replete with examples of pivotal dinners that changed the phase of the world. Leaders have always used meals to carry out diplomatic missions and seal political agreements. “ The meal, in this case, is a balance of power. That said, I studied with my doctoral students the impact of a gourmet meal at the Eiffel Tower between the Macron spouses and the Trump spouses. It was a very nice meal, but it didn’t really add up to anything. If people are enemies, I don’t think we’ll solve anything in champagne bubbles. »
Meal, a softpower tool?
If the attractiveness of France has long been demonstrated by its gastronomy, the registration in 2010 of the “gastronomic meal of the French” as an intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco has reinforced the influence of French soft power. But isn’t this supremacy of French gastronomy threatened today by other countries? Wouldn’t the meal be desecrated today in France? “ For me, the classification of French gastronomic meals is the swan song, because we are ‘heritaging’ something which is disappearing. » notes Gilles Fumey. It must be said that our lifestyles have evolved, there are now other ways of getting together than meeting around a meal, whether on social networks, around a football field or through major sporting competitions. But the meal has not said its last word, it remains for a long time associated with the pleasure of being together, it is the celebration of the bond that unites us.
[1] The importance of the meal in the family, professional sphere and in French traditions, Opinion Way study for Charal, September 2024.