Cultivated mainly in the north of Brittany, the artichoke is no longer popular in France: perceived as difficult to cook, shunned by the younger generation, its sales are constantly falling and producers are worried about the future of this emblematic vegetable of French gastronomy.
“2022 was a catastrophic year and this year we still have the consequences of the heat and the dry weather”, explains Christian Bernard, 52, in the middle of his field of artichokes in Taulé (Finistère).
“In big fleshy artichokes, we went down to 20/25 euro cents a head, paid to the producer. We should be at 55/60…”, plagues the market gardener who has cultivated this plant for 30 years. A sign of discontent, on June 9 tens of tons of unsold goods were distributed by producers in Lannion (Côtes-d’Armor).
AFP
At issue in this drop in prices, the weather factor: Breton production and that of Roussillon, the 2nd French region, overlapped in an unusual way with an influx in June on the stalls of the artichoke, which is said to like have your feet in the water and your head in the sun.
But in addition to this situation, there is a structural trend to this decline. Because according to Pierre Gélébart, artichoke product manager at Prince de Bretagne, a brand owned by several producer organizations, “we lose 10,000 tonnes of artichoke production every ten years”, which is now only around 20,000 tonnes in the Armorican peninsula.
How can we explain consumers’ lack of interest in this vegetable that was once very present in families and on canteen menus?
At a time when meal preparation time is reduced, the artichoke is perceived as a vegetable that takes a long time to prepare, coupled with a tendency to want to skip the starter. “The French meal, starter, main course, dessert, whether we like it or not, is losing momentum,” regrets Mr. Gélébart, stressing that it can be prepared in just ten minutes in the microwave.
The artichoke, in competition with vegetables that were once rare on our plates such as the avocado, hardly appeals to the younger generations. “Nearly 70% of consumers are over 60,” notes Mr. Gélébart.
AFP
On the producer side, market gardeners are wondering about the future of the artichoke, nicknamed the “vegetable of the brave” because of the working time required to cultivate it, in view of its low profitability.
“It represents 300 hours of work per year per hectare”, compared to eight hours per year for a cereal field, observes Marc Rousseau overlooking his field in Henvic, which offers a magnificent view of the bay of Morlaix.
“You have to look for the consumer and get remunerative prices, otherwise the producers will get tired and turn to another product. It’s a pity to see cultures that are part of French gastronomy disappear”, adds the market gardener, pointing out that in Italy and Spain the annual consumption of “carciofo” and “alcachofa” per person reached eight to nine kilos against 400 g per Frenchman.
The players in the world of the artichoke, which was introduced for the first time in France on the table of Catherine de Medici in the 16th century and implanted around 1810 in the Breton fields, point to its nutritional qualities and its richness in fibres, its deep roots which make it possible to drain the soil well or even its atypical appearance.
“There are plenty of virtues in eating artichokes and for children it has a playful aspect, which we peel,” supports Arnaud Lécuyer, vice-president of the Brittany region responsible for agriculture who called on the networks social groups to consume this real dish of the poor according to the famous word of Coluche.
Another hope of the sector, Prince de Bretagne, which carried out an advertising campaign in the Paris metro, launched the process with the National Institute of Origin and Quality (Inao) with a view to obtaining a Geographical Indication protected (IGP) artichokes from Brittany.