There is nothing more French than a baguette. And even the French have gotten tired of them

That in France the baguette is a symbol, an icon, an institution (almost), is beyond any doubt. Just three years ago UNESCO included it on its list of intangible cultural heritage and together with the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and a handful of other symbols (not many) it is part of the iconic heritage of Paris. Despite all this, the French seem less and less interested in taking baguettes home, which coincides with a general drop in bread consumption.

There are those who already warn that the popular bar is presented with a “uncertain future” or even, going further, he wonders: Can French baguette die?

France, less and less panera. France may have turned baguettes into a national symbol, but even that has not prevented bread from facing a complex crisis there. The demand data shows this clearly, as CNN recalled this week in an analysis on the topic.

If after the Second World War the French consumed an average of 25 ounces of bread per person per day (about 700 grams), in 2015 that figure had already dropped to four ounces (113 g). The trend does not seem to have reversed in the last decade and today this average consumption indicator is even lower, standing at 3.5 ounces (almost 100 g). In practice, that amounts to less than half a baguette.

Is there more data? Yes. And most of them are not what they say are encouraging for the sector. In 2023 the Confederation of French Bakeries and Pastry Shops published a survey which reveals that, of the thousand consumers interviewed, more than a third (36%) acknowledged having reduced their bread consumption during the previous five years. The decline was also especially pronounced among middle-aged people (35 to 49 years old). In his case the ‘puncture’ reached 43%.

In the lower cohort, young people between 25 and 34 years old, one in four interviewed (26%) declared that they had increased their consumption of bread, although this trend has some important nuances. Young people are beginning to see bread as part of the meals they eat outside the home and are banishing it from their breakfasts, a time of day when it was previously common to consume baguette bread with butter, jam or chocolate and hazelnut cream. Among those under 24 years of age, 57% maintain this habit. It is a considerable percentage, but it is far from the 83% that reaches among the population group of 55 to 65 years.

“Coucou, tu as pris le pain?” The decline of bread in France is nothing new. In 2013 the trend was already clear enough for French bakers to launch a campaign to encourage its consumption. His slogan was “Coucou, tu as pris le pain?” (“Hey, did you pick up the bread?”) and was plastered on billboards, bus shelters and shop windows across the country with a clear purpose: to get French families to buy baguettes on the way home. They didn’t have it easy. The change of scenario facing the sector responds to a cocktail in which both internal factors and changes at a social and cultural level are combined.

And what factors are those? To begin with, the offer has changed (a lot). It is not the same bread that the French found in the 50s or 60s as those of 2025. CNN remember how there are new professionals (“neo-bakers”) who are choosing to remove baguettes from their shelves and opt for other products, aromatic sourdough and whole-grain breads, made with cereals, organic flour and sold by weight. The reason, beyond their flavor: they stay fresh longer, an important factor for a generation that has lost the habit (or simply does not have time) of going to the bakery every day.

Added to this is the popularity of other competitors, such as processed sliced ​​bread from the US. The data is once again incontestable. A study by the Federation of Bakery Entrepreneurs reveals that nine out of ten French (86%) admit to consuming industrial white plan bought in supermarkets. In May the Sirhafood medium I remembered that the market for packaged industrial sliced ​​bread moves more than 500 million euros annually, which has meant that the format (soft bread) has even aroused the interest of artisan workshops.

Beyond the industry. The drop in bread consumption is also linked to something more complex: changes at a social, cultural and demand level. Simply the young they cook less and they eat more outside the home, where they also find a greater gastronomic offer, with alternatives in which bread is not a central piece. It’s not a coincidence. Yes in 2005 88% of French people Respondents saw bread as the basis of a balanced diet, in 2023 that percentage was already 66%.

In its day, the baguette also offered a series of advantages (an easy-to-store format, availability, price and flavor) that may be less appreciated in the market today. The bar must be consumed the same day it is purchased, which requires going to the bakery daily. In a society in which time is scarce, this is a handicap and explains the implementation that supermarket bread has achieved.

Beyond France. The phenomenon is not in any case exclusive to France. In Spain it happens something similar. Data from the Ministry of Food show that per capita consumption has plummeted in recent decades: from 56.4 kilos per year in 1990 we have gone to 27.4. The most curious thing is that the fall is once again focused on fresh bread, which (although it remains the most popular) is the one that has suffered the greatest ‘puncture’. The consumption of industrial bread has grown, although not enough to compensate for the collapse of traditional loaves.

Images | Sergio Arze (Unsplash), Mohamed Jamil Latrach (Unsplash) and Shalev Cohen (Unsplash)

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