Vivian van Blerk

"Métamorphoses, Cheminées, The Attic Pictures"

Galerie
Beckel Odille Boïcos

February 2-March 10

Galbob.com
Hotels in Paris and other destinations. No booking fees. EasyToBook.com
Practical Paris by
Karen Henrich

Advertising
Fnac_concerts_120.gif

Photo of the Week

Paris-Update-Dog-Loves-Art

Even art-loving dogs had to wrap up during the recent cold snap in Paris. Photo: Eric Tenin of Paris Daily Photo.

 

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Paris Update Fashion Flash

FRENCH MICHAEL MOORE TAKES ON
NATIONAL FOOD INDUSTRY

Paris-Update-republique-de-la-malbouffe-Marianne

The motto of Le République de la Malbouffe: "Opacity, Obesity, Precarity."

Xavier Denamur, the owner of five small restaurants in Paris, is a man on a crusade. It began with the 2009 decrease in value-added tax from 21.6 percent to 5.5 percent on restaurant meals, which he says favored big chain restaurants without helping the small independents as promised. Going beyond that issue, he blames French government policies and a lack of transparency in the food industry for the increasing industrialization of food preparation and delivery, the degradation of food quality in France, and increasing obesity and public health costs. One of his campaigns calls for legislation that would create a label informing restaurant customers whether the food is prepared from fresh ingredients on-site or is factory-made or frozen.

Denamur has formed an association called La République de la Malbouffe (The Republic of Bad Food) and has just released a documentary film of the same name, directed by Jacques Goldstein. Unfortunately, the film lacks focus and does not get his laudable message across clearly. Shown only in a handful of Paris cinemas, it is also available on DVD (with issue no. 17 of Rue89 magazine, for €5). Denamur continues to hold debates and chase politicians, hoping to get them to listen to his call for transparency. “My goal is to get citizens interested in politics again,” he says, by encouraging them to vote and write to their representatives. Heidi Ellison

 

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Paris Update Art Notes

ANDREAS SLOMINSKI


Recent works by Andreas Slominski at the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris (through February 29). Video by Nikolaï Saoulski. Click here for larger screen.

 

Paris Update This Week's Events

For full details about an event, click on its name to visit the official Web site (in English when available).

Festival Circulation(s)

> Festival promoting the work of young European photographers, Bagatelle Garden, Bois de Boulogne, Feb. 25-March 25

Leonardo Live

> Filmed tour of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery in London, various cinemas, Paris, Feb. 16.

London Calling

> Festival of British films, Forum des Images, Paris, through Feb. 29.

Nouveau Festival

>A "cross-disciplinary" festival at the Centre Pompidou. Free admission. Feb. 22-March 12.

Paris Fine Art

> Art and antique fair, Palais des Congrès, Paris, through Feb. 20.

Robert Altman Film Festival

> Cinémathèque Française, Paris, through March 11.

Salon International de l'Agriculture

> A barnyard in Paris, with the best of the country's livestock and products made from them, Feb. 19-27

Steven Spielberg Film Festival

> The entire œuvre, Cinémathèque Française, Paris, through March 3.

Touts-Petits Cinéma

> Film festival for kids from 18 months to 4 years, Forum des Images, Feb. 18-26.

 

 

Restaurants

 

Spring Boutique

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

paris_update_flashnews

FALL OPENING FOR SPRING BOUTIQUE

spring boutique, paris

Fans of Daniel Rose's Spring will have to content themselves with the boutique until the new Paris restaurant opens in March.

Daniel Rose shot to fame in a very short time with his tiny Spring restaurant in Paris’s ninth arrondissement but more or less shut up shop earlier this year to open a bigger place somewhere near Les Halles. Nine months on, he can add expertise in French bureaucracy to his list of skills: because of various difficulties with the renovation, his new restaurant will not open until next March. To “put us on” as my Yorkshire countrymen say, and whet our appetites for more, he has just opened a small grocery store and wine shop across the way from the restaurant Garde Robe, where he sells an eclectic, highly personal range of wines, plus an “as I please” selection of other gastronomic goodies.

Three winemakers were on hand at the opening: the delightful Catherine Breton, from Bourgueil in the Loire valley, handing out samples of her sparkling Vouvray, which is still in its bottle fermentation stage and was accordingly bursting with yeasty freshness; Jean Montanet from Domaine de la Cadette in Vézelay, with a very refreshing and lively Pinot Noir; and Jean Christophe Comor, of Domaine des Terres Promises, whose vines are located between Aix-en-Provence and Toulon, with a meaty, lip-smacking red vin de table.

We missed the boudin blanc hot dogs with morels, unfortunately, as other duties called, but we shall be keeping an eye on the young man’s activities, and at the very least sourcing our supplies of Maldon sea salt from him, as few others in Paris seem to stock the divine flakes produced in England.

But even those of you who are not salt freaks will find plenty to excite your taste buds and brain cells at Spring Boutique, from black turnips to some of the best apples ever (all produce is organic, of course), along with such gourmet tidbits as Valrhona chocolate, Soluna coffee, almond oil and aged balsamico vinegar. Richard Hesse

Spring Boutique: 52, Rue de l'Arbre Sec, 75001 Paris. Métro: Les Halles. Tel.: 01 58 62 44 30. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10:30am-9pm.

{youtubejw width="300"}rOiW8qU51Ls{/youtubejw}

MManager Josh Adler talks about the new Spring boutique.