Being pregnant, being the one in a party to drive or being one of the many, many people who don’t want to drink alcohol has proven tricky in the wine-loving country of France. Exciting options have simply been lacking.
“When I was pregnant, it was so annoying that nothing but water was available throughout the evening,” says Argentine sommelier Paz Levinson to the AFP news agency.
But now things are starting to move.
“Star chef skeptical”
Levinson works with multi-award-winning French chef Anne-Sophie Pic, and the two have joined forces to serve new alcohol-free drink versions at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Valence, south-east France. For example, they have stirred the pot by serving a Brazilian coffee decoction to dishes with venison.
Paris-based mixologist and mixologist Yann Daniel admits he was initially “quite hesitant” about the idea, but quickly changed his mind after realizing there was a thirst for alcohol-free options – even in wine country France.
— It is a trend that is growing in France and it follows the Anglo-Saxon world which is ahead of us in this respect, he tells AFP.
Last fall, Yann Daniel was commissioned by a hotel chain to put together a drink menu with non-alcoholic and low-alcohol drinks. The drinks would be based on spices, herbs, roots and different types of tea.
Not everyone is convinced.
The Frenchman Guy Savoy – considered by many to be the world’s best chef – says that the alcohol-free trend suits better in countries that do not produce the world’s best wines.
French consumption falls
— In the number one wine country? I don’t judge, but it doesn’t fit in, says the star chef.
But the facts speak against Guy Savoy.
French alcohol consumption is falling sharply. In 1960, French adults drank an average of 17.7 liters of alcoholic beverages per year. The corresponding figure in 2019 was 9.2 liters per adult French, according to Our World in Data.
Many restaurateurs are also excited about opportunities for new beverage and liquid innovations.
Michelin-starred chef David Toutain in Paris says he now offers lobster flavored with pine cones, eel with apple juice mixed with fennel vinegar and pigeon with a nectar made from various beets and carrots.
“It has taken me years to get all this in place,” Toutain told AFP.