Each year, the Paris city council gives an award for this most iconic of French foods…

photo: BoSi Himself


Together with the string of onions and the beret (neither of which you’ll see in Paris) the baguette is rivalled only by the Eiffel Tower as the image of France. And quite rightly so. Bread, cheese and wine are three things that the French know how to do very, very well.

So it is only fitting that the Paris council, hoping to encourage excellence and tradition, hold an annual contest for the most delicious baguette of the capital. The prize is not only 4,000 euros, but the guarantee of people queueing up outside your boulangerie every single night to see whether they agree.

The winning baguette is judged on its looks, how well-cooked it is, how airy it is, its smell and its taste. And this year’s winner is not in some trendy, monied part of town, but right up north near the city limits in the 18th arrondissement. Anis Bouabsa, at 32-34 rue Tristan Tzara must be pretty happy. 4,000 euros for a baguette, now that’s not bad.

photo: noahf

Bigger map here