‘Welfare is a right, not a privilege’
Eating at the university canteens of Paris. Words and photos by Jack Franco.
La restauration collective, or collective catering, is a special source of culinary pride in a land with no shortage of it. In France, canteen trade bodies run annual competitions that award chefs in large institutions, such as care homes, schools and hospitals, who source ingredients locally and sustainably, and turn them into healthy, cheap and flavoursome meals. No canteens represent this tradition in the French collective imagination more than the restaurants universitaires, or Resto Us. These are the 500 university canteens run by the Centre Régional d’Œuvres Universitaires et Scolaires, or Crous, a mammoth governmental body that plays a major role in students’ lives. Today, Paris alone counts around 20 restaurants universitaires, which are vital for the city’s student population of over half a million; although tuition is virtually free for many students in France, financial support is less generous, leaving a lot of students precarious when it comes to food. At a restaurant universitaire, a healthy, varied meal costs €6.60, but the state subsidises it by half, meaning €3.30 gets students bread, a salad or entrée, a generous main and a dessert. Students with a bursary pay a symbolic single euro.
Since I moved two years ago from London to study, I’ve started to appreciate the city through the menus of its canteens. Having grown up in the UK, I admire the restaurants universitaires for their idealistic yet utilitarian spirit: serving the greatest number of people as well as possible, while building creativity into the formulaic. You order according to a French-style, points-based buffet system; a total of six points is available – four for a main, one for sides and desserts, with every point over six accruing a 50¢ surcharge. Though the French might characterise the food as perfectly run-of-the-mill, to an outsider the selection of dishes can serve as an introduction to the cooking of the wider Francophone world. It was in a Lyon canteen that I discovered fish quenelles before I’d set foot in a bouchon, and tried a sausage rougail stew from Réunion Island, a creole cuisine so often omitted from France’s gastronomic story.
Wanting to see how the city’s restaurants universitaires change from area to area, depending on where and who they’re serving, I decided to keep a diary over a four-day week in spring detailing meals at canteens in different parts of the city. Although their existence highlights societal gaps caused by increasing inequality, the restaurants universitaires also represent necessary and feasible remedies to food insecurity and a growing lack of truly public spaces. These canteens stand against the idea that welfare – or in its literal French equivalent, bien-être, or well-being – is a right, not a privilege.
Day One: Restaurant Universitaire Mabillon, Rue Mabillon, 6th arrondissement
Menu du jour: red cabbage, cucumber and potato salad bowl – chicken yassa, spinach and rice – cherry crumble
The 6th arrondissement is postcard Paris: the Senate, Jardin du Luxembourg and overpriced cafes living off long-dead reputations. It also has the Restaurant Universitaire Mabillon, the oldest university canteen in France. Founded in 1952, Mabillon is the Crous’ most emblematic canteen, spread across three floors and 660 seats. During the 1960s, it served 5,000 meals a day; though more canteens have since opened nearby, more than 1,600 meals still come out of Mabillon’s kitchen daily. Today, my tangy poulet yassa has let the onions do the work, as it should, although it’s a shame it has to share a plate with two ounces of overcooked spinach.