The artichoke is no longer so popular among young people in France either. That should change. The vegetable has its own brotherhood that sends out its ambassadors to culinary festivals.
“The Brotherhood of the Artichoke from Saint-Pol,” calls the priest in the cathedral of Meaux near Paris. The others present give the host brotherhood delicacies for their brie cheese festival. Only André Hadrot is left empty-handed. “The season is over,” he apologizes.
Hadrot wears a green and purple caftan and leans on a banner with a sewn-on artichoke. With his white beard and straw hat, he looks like the painter Claude Monet.
His artichoke brotherhood from Saint-Pol-de-Leon in Finistère was founded 25 years ago. Hadrot is their ambassador for the greater Paris and Normandy areas. “We have to be everywhere, even when it’s grape harvest in Montmartre,” he says. “We are always in great demand. We want to introduce people to the artichoke and promote it.”
Artichoke is more popular with older people
Hadrot has just negotiated with the hosts to develop a recipe in which raw milk brie meets rustic artichoke. As a former restaurateur and amateur chef, he knows how healthy it is with its antioxidants and how good it is for the liver. But most consumers are pensioners like him.
Artichokes are rarely on the menu in school canteens. Fast food is quicker than picking artichokes. Families also tend to skip the starter rather than the dessert. A French person only eats around a pound of artichokes a year, an Italian eats eight kilos.
He’s sad that young people aren’t that into artichokes: “Yes, unfortunately. Don’t they want to spend money on them? Is it a matter of time or do we see them too rarely in commercials? Three arguments for the artichoke: It’s inexpensive , tastes good and is full of vitamins.”
Artichokes for 1.50 euros each at a market stall
300 working hours per hectare
But cultivation and sales are declining. Whatever doesn’t find a buyer is donated to the food banks or fed. Sometimes it is half the daily harvest. Artichoke growers put 300 hours of work into each hectare per year, while grain farmers put in less than ten. That’s why they were there at the recent farmers’ protests. Also because drought and dumping imports are causing problems for their culture.
“In the high season in July, when we celebrate our festival, three pieces cost maybe 1.50 euros. In Paris it’s more like 1.50 euros each,” says Hadrot. The dull green flowering vegetables often only fetch 20 cents per head. Cultivation is no longer worthwhile. Up to three quarters of the artichokes are produced by around 300 farms in Brittany, the rest in Roussillon around Perpignan in the south. This is where the “Little Violets” come from, and they also taste good raw. France produces around 20,000 tons a year. In 2017 it was statistically more than twice as much.
A simple vinaigrette is sufficient
Then first an artichoke. How Hadrot likes to eat them? “Simply with a creamy vinaigrette of oil, vinegar with a little crème fraîche,” he says. “And here in Saint-Pol we have it stuffed. It is not boiled, but cooked over steam, opened, the artichoke heart removed and filled with a farce made from veal or pork. And off it goes in the oven.”
“Deshabiller” is what he calls the process of working your way to the inside of the artichoke, layer by layer. Ambassador André Hadrot would like a seal of quality for the “Artichaut de Bretagne”. And more artichoke fans. At the age of almost 80, he holds his banner high at many a parade. He is also happy when the artichoke is advertised in the Paris metro – the main thing is that it doesn’t disappear from the plates.
Stefanie Markert, ARD Paris, tagesschau, March 16, 2024 9:39 a.m