SHARE
COPY LINK

FRANCE EXPLAINED

Why ‘World’ Chocolatine Day is unlikely to unite France

A small radio station in the southwestern city of Toulouse is still trying to make World Chocolatine Day a thing - but a long-running language battle means that most of France won't be celebrating the delicious chocolatey pastry.

Pain au chocolat
Photo by Mink Mingle on Unsplash

Toulouse FM, the self-described best radio station in Toulouse and the Haute-Garonne département of southwest France, is relaunching Journée Mondiale de la Chocolatine (World Chocolatine Day).

The annual celebration first took place in 2018 but was cancelled last year due to Covid. The organisers instead sent boxes of chocolatines to a local children’s hospital. 

As part of this event, scheduled for Thursday, November 18th, a team from the radio will roam the streets, handing out free chocolatines to passers-by. This year, the organisers are also delivering chocolatines to Toluouse businesses for free – you can sign up here. The world champion chocolatine maker, Sébastien Lagrue, is also participating in proceedings. 

But as much as Toulouse FM are trying to create a buzz, it is unlikely that Journée Mondiale de la Chocolatine will catch on because most French people (84 percent according to a 2019 survey by IFOP) don’t even use the word chocolatine, instead referring to pains au chocolat

READ ALSO French pastry wars: Pain au chocolat versus chocolatine

The terms chocolatine and pain au chocolat were both coined in the 19th century. Originally, chocolatine was the word used to describe both a kind of fruity chocolate and a concentrated chocolate drink. The name Pain au chocolat meanwhile first emerged in Switzerland and referred to the delicious treat that we all know and love today. 

In the southwest of France however, many are determined to stick with the term chocolatine – some even view pain au chocolat as an anglicised bastardisation. The rest of the country broadly uses pain au chocolat although there are exceptions. 

In the far north east France, on the border with Belgium, it is often known as a petit pain or petit pain au chocolat, while along the eastern border with Germany it can be either a petit pain au chocolat or a croissant au chocolat.

People living in the southwest are fiercely attached to the term chocolatine – with some pâtissiers threatening to charge extra for customers who ask for a pain au chocolat

Several public efforts have been made by south-westerners over the years to gain legitimacy for chocolatine. In 2017, five high school students unsuccessfully petitioned then-President François Hollande and the Académie Française to have the word officially recognised. 

READ ALSO ‘Chocolatine’ vs ‘pain au chocolat’: French pastry war spills over into parliament

In 2018, a dozen or so right-wing MPs attempted tabled an amendment to the new Food Industry and Farming bill aimed at recognising the term chocolatine. The amendment was thrown off the table after the Agriculture Minister at the time, Stéphane Travert, argued that it was a waste of parliamentary time. 

Until France can agree on what to call this food, it is unlikely that World Chocolatine Day will attain support from across the nation – let alone from the international community. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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

SHOW COMMENTS