Recently, we learned that the famous chef Alain Ducasse was about to open his first cookie factory, after those dedicated to chocolate, coffee and ice cream and a detour through veggie burgers. Gourmet food is emerging as the new luxury ready-to-wear and investors have understood this. About thirty sorts of cookies will be offered, from the traditional ones to the most unexpected in terms of texture, raw material (especially roasted flours) or flavor. Some of them will even be cooked in front of customers. A promising experience.
We also discovered that the digital application La Liste, an index of the world’s best restaurants, will soon launch a “pastry finder” which will include, from its beginning, 670 exceptional pastries across 61 countries, that it will be possible to find using keywords (Kouign-amann, Paris-Brest, Pavlova…). In the long run, the promoters of La Liste announce a worldwide ranking. Let’s wait for tomorrow. Yesterday, we visited a city or a country to discover a district or a museum. Now, we also (mostly?) travel to find on Google Maps an establishment dedicated to sweetness praised on social media.
You only have to stroll in the well-named rue des Martyrs in Paris to feel like you’re walking a way of the cross marked by stops in various chapels of sweet temptation. Pastry has indeed become a religion: a symbolic body capable of linking and mobilizing the faithful. In the midst of inflation, wars and global uncertainties, eating cakes has become an accessible compensation. Not only because they are loaded with regressive sugar, but also because they are the fruit of a rare combination of the known and the unknown. Because, unlike what happens with savory dishes, this is more a question of reinterpretation than exploration, and often even a tribute paid by scrupulously respecting an original recipe. Very reassuring in these times.
Moreover, even if it is objectively expensive, a chef’s pastry remains accessible and the experience will easily become part of real and virtual memories and conversations. An enchanted interlude: isn’t that what everyone is looking for today?
So What ?
While ice creams and cakes are at the forefront of the sweet revival, now is the time of cookies. Not only nomadic, easy to eat and store, but also capable of being transformed into logos... Perhaps the ultimate way for brands to ensure their presence...
