There is some shocking news out of France today. As I was searching for something to discuss in my French class today I came across an article in Le Figaro with the title French Prefer to Drink Alcohol at Home. According to a recent study by Entreprise &Prévention, a French beverage association, 58% of French people only drink booze at home. This goes completely contrary to my image of the French drinking wine in cafés. About 99.9% of my idea of France is about people drinking wine in cafés. I’m shattered by this news. The study also mentions that 16% of the adult population of France doesn’t drink at all! I don’t understand why they don’t revoke the passports of non-drinking Frenchmen. You live in France and you don't drink? That doesn't make sense.
The reasons given for the decline in café drinking were mainly due to health concerns and fear of getting busted by the cops while driving hammered. It also mentioned the smoking ban in France keeps some drinkers at home as well as blaming “la crise,” my least favorite word in any language. I’m really tired of everything bad happening in the world being blamed on the financial and economic crisis. I’ve got money problems at times but you don’t see me giving up on drinking wine in cafés.
To their credit the French are spending more on booze than before so they are drinking less but better quality stuff. My question to them is why can’t they just drink more of the good stuff? I haven’t read any current studies but my own experience tells me that people here in Spain (at least here in Valencia) still prefer to go out for a drink rather than stay at home; a good thing when you consider that there are at least two bars on every block.
1) I think it's more expensive there than it is here and 2) if they went out, they'd have to be sociable with strangers, which in my experience isn't part of French DNA.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the reasons the end result sucks: people staying home.
ReplyDelete