Le Bistro

 https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/c-est-notre-seul-contact-avec-les-gens-de-l-interet-des-bistrots-dans-la-vie-quotidienne-des-francais-20210130

source: le Figaro

Translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Gaël Brulé, sociologist of happiness: " At the bistro, we feed on seeing and being seen by others"

Gaël Brulé is a sociologist specializing in happiness and a researcher at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is the author of Small Mythologies of French Happiness (Dunod editions, 2020) , in which he describes hedonism as one of the  cultural dimensions of French Life.

LE FIGARO. - What do bars and restaurants represent for the French?

Gael BRULÉ. - They are the backbone of our society. We socialize there, we build our relationships. In cities as well as in the countryside, these businesses always occupy a strategic place: at the corner of streets and boulevards, or on the square of a village. They are central places because they structure everyday life. The meals themselves are already of particular importance for the French: in my book, I compare the number of minutes spent at the table in France with that of other European countries, and we are unsurprisingly in first place .

Is a restaurant meal really that different from a meal at home, alone or with friends?

At home, we are reclusive with family or closest friends. We consolidate what we call, in sociology, our strong links. At the restaurant, we forge our weak ties, since we feed on the views of each other, strangers, and we feed on the surrounding discussions. So we have the impression of being part of a whole, of constructing, in a way, society. This is also why the French are so numerous to go to the bistro alone.

Does the persistence of sanitary restrictions risk killing our relationship with terraces and at the counter?

There is a significant risk, indeed. A year of confinement can make a lasting impression on us. To what extent, on the other hand, I do not know: will we almost no longer go to closed places? Will there be fewer of us? Are we going to lose the “ melee ” effect at the bar? We can draw a parallel with the arrival of smartphones, which has changed the way we consume, communicate, and present ourselves to others. Each era brings its share of changes, and I have always been fascinated by the ability of humans to accept as normal what would have been inconceivable a few years earlier. I am indeed afraid that health restrictions will multiply the existence of small physical islands, connected by digital means.