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Paris restaurants open up kitchens to refugee chefs

Ten Parisian restaurants are to open their kitchens to refugee chefs from Syria to Sri Lanka as part of a new festival aimed at "changing attitudes" to migrants, organisers said Wednesday.

Paris restaurants open up kitchens to refugee chefs
Photo: Nicole Abalde/Flickr
“We tend to forget that these people arrive in France with skills, know-how, a cultural heritage, especially in cuisine, which must be appreciated to help them integrate into French society, said Food Sweet Food co-founder Louis Martin.
   
The chefs will be invited to cook in the Parisian eateries between June 17th and 21st as part of the Refugee Food Festival which is being run in conjunction with the UN's refugee agency and which will coincide with World Refugee Day on June 20th.
   
Seven chefs with refugee status from Syria, India, Iran, Ivory Coast, Chechnya and Sri Lanka will take part.
   
At one of the participating restaurants, L'Ami Jean in Paris's 7th arrondissement, chef  Stephane Jego will team up with Syrian Mohamad El Khady to prepare a selection of dishes.
   
“We realised the extent to which cuisine has the power to bring together people who do not know each other and don't necessarily have the same cultural reference points,” Martin added.
  

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FOOD AND DRINK

Cheese in numbers: France’s obsession with fromage

From cheese types to the amount eaten per year, via cheese favourites - here's a look at how France really feels about fromage.

Cheese in numbers: France’s obsession with fromage

March 27th is the Journée nationale du fromage in France – so here are a few facts about the delicious dairy delicacy.

246

Charles de Gaulle famously once asked of governing France: “How can anyone govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?”.

His numbers were wrong. Producers in France make closer to 1,000 varieties of cheese – and some have estimated that figure could be pushed up as high as 1,600.

8

The number of cheese ‘families’ in France. A good cheeseboard in France is generally considered to consist of at least three ‘families’ – a soft cheese, a hard cheese and either a blue or a goat’s cheese. Remember, too, an odd number of fromages on a platter is better than an even number, according from cheese etiquettists

READ ALSO France Facts: There are eight cheese families in France

2.5

About how long – in years – it would take you to try every cheese made in France, if you tried a new variety every day. Life goals. 

95

The percentage of people in France who say they eat cheese at least once a week, spending seven percent of their weekly food bill on it.

READ ALSO Best Briehaviour: Your guide to French cheese etiquette

40

Two-fifths of French people say they eat cheese every day

57

The amount of cheese produced, in kilogrammes, in France every second, according to this website, which has a counter to show you how fast that really is. It’s estimated that 1.8 million tonnes of cheese are produced in France every year.

27

The French consume, on average, a whopping 27 kilogrammes of cheese per person per year.

READ ALSO Fonduegate: Why customer service is different in France

3

The three most popular cheeses in France, based on sales, are Emmental, Camembert, and Raclette – followed by mozzarella, goat’s cheese, Comté and Coulommiers.

63

Some 63 cheeses have been awarded the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée status, which means they can only be produced in a certain region.

1

France has – or at least soon will have – one dedicated cheese museum. 

READ ALSO Three things to know about the new Paris cheese museum

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