Fodors - Fodors France 2014

It may be a clich to say the French fret over their place in the world, but they do. Faced with the ever-dominant Anglo-American axis and hobbled by the global economic crisis, the French are rallying to protect their institutions, their language, and, above all, la vie franaise their treasured lifestyle. Still, polls show the French are optimistic about the futureand theres plenty of good news.

Tourism is thriving, with France maintaining its rank as the worlds top tourist destination, with more than 80 million visitors each year. The French remain leaders in science and technology. France is the worlds leading producer of luxury goods, and fashion remains the nations birthright. Dining in Paris has never been better, with the city experiencing a vibrant emergence of smaller, lower-priced bistros concentrating on quality and terroir, the local bounty that France is famous for.

Theres a certain amount of schadenfreude in the fashionable proclamation that French gastronomy is in decline. True, its been a full 40 years since a French chef has rocked the culinary world like Paul Bocuse did in the early 70s, spawning the nouvelle cuisine movement and ushering in the era of celebrity chefs. With the ascendance of Spaniard Ferran Adrias molecular cuisine and Rene Redzepis radically locavore outpost Noma, in Copenhagen, France has finally had to share the limelight, leading to a sort of identity crisis and a reevaluation of culinary values.

In the last decade, several of Frances acclaimed chefs, including Alain Senderens and Olivier Roellinger, have handed in their Michelin stars and bowed out of the fast track in favor of smaller, less formal settings. The global crisis and changing lifestyles have deeply influenced a new generation of chefs seeking a more modern approach to cooking, yet still eager to strut their stuff for an educated, ever-appreciative audience. All of these trends have culminated in a movement thats taken France by stormbistronomie.

Well underway since the late 90s, the bistronomie movement is now in full swing, with exciting new restaurants opening in Paris every month. A hybrid of bistrot and gastronomy, bistronomie broadly defines a new breed of bistro, run by ambitious young chefs who combine rigorous haute cuisine training with a more laid-back, individual, and creative approach. As the irreverent foodie publications Omnivore and Le Fooding viewed as little more than cheeky upstarts when they appeared a decade agohave evolved into major forces behind the movement, people have taken notice.

Bistronomie dovetails with other popular movementslike the locavores, who advocate the use of fresh, local ingredients, and the trend toward natural and biodynamic wines, which are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers and produced with less sulfites. An international roster of passionate young chefs has also invigorated the movement, with no single approach stealing the limelight.

What else defines bistronomie? A convivial atmosphere, fresh, innovative yet accessible cuisine, adventurous wines, and affordable prices. With all this to offer, naysayers may want to think againor catch the next flight to Paris!

The French government made a long-overdue concession to French feminists, finally enforcing a law that excises the honorific Mademoiselle from official forms, and advising that all women now be referred to as Madame regardless of marital status. What took France so long?

A deep ambivalence on the part of both men and women regarding gender roles certainly plays a part. As does the kind of entrenched inequality that puts France at a surprising number 46 on the World Economic Forums Global Pay Gap surveywell behind Britain, Germany, and even Kazakhstanwith men earning wages an average of 12% to 20% higher than women. Attitudes here are slow to change, and with so few female legislators, another area where France lags behind other nations, it seems that French women have their work cut out for them.

First fashion, then diet, now kids: Americans are as eager as ever to regard the French as pillars of wisdom in everything from tying a scarf to taming a toddler. Two recent books by American moms in Paris, Bringing up Bb, by Pamela Druckerman, and French Kids Eat Everything, by Karen Le Billon, laud the French savoir faire when it comes to raising healthy, well-behaved kids. Although commonsense notions like no snacking between meals and no TV at dinnertime are not the domain of any one culture, the French may have a leg up in knowing when to treat kids like kids and when to treat them as intelligent beings, able to grasp concepts like, conviviality, good taste, and the rules of life, which, according to Le Billon, are what distinguish the savvy French from their American counterparts.

Denying immediate gratification is a running theme in both books, with myriad examples of French withholding until the proper moment. Nor do French parents scream and rage at their children. Their superior disciplinary skills seem to require nothing more than a stern look and a firm non. According to both authors, French kids eat their vegetables (and organ meats), respect boundaries, and exhibit admirable self-control. Maybe $24.95 is a small price to pay for access to the latest Gallic secrets.