French Bread Is Known Worldwide, Says Chief Baker At Climate Talks

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We are also tracking the climate talks in Paris. And as we await a possible agreement, we have one detail suggesting just how big this meeting is. A bakery at the site of the talks is making 10,000 bread rolls per day. The woman responsible is Pascal Chevalier Galon (ph). She broke bread with NPR's Christopher Joyce.

PASCAL CHEVALIER GALON: In this kitchen, which has been specially created for the COP21, there is an oven that can bake bread all the day long.

CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE: What time do you start every morning?

GALON: They start at 5.

JOYCE: Five in the morning?

GALON: Five in the morning.

JOYCE: How many loaves do they make? How many pieces of bread do they make every day?

GALON: Around about 10,000 every day.

JOYCE: Ten thousand.

GALON: Yes.

JOYCE: Every day.

GALON: Every day.

JOYCE: What's the secret of the real French baguette?

GALON: What's the secret of the real French baguette? I think the bakers should answer this question.

JONATHAN GOCCIELLO: Good bread. It's the time.

JOYCE: The time.

GOCCIELLO: Time.

GALON: To prepare a good baguette, they need four to five hours between the moment when they mix the dough and the moment when the baguette is going to be eaten by someone.

JOYCE: So tell me, why is it that the French people love bread so much?

GALON: Because it's very good. The French bread is known worldwide. And it's really a - it's part of the culture.

JOYCE: Well, it's been nice. Thank you so much.

GALON: You're welcome.

INSKEEP: Pascal Chevalier Galon and her chief baker Jonathan Gocciello (ph) with NPR's Christopher Joyce at the Paris climate talks where presumably they're eating well. By the way, it is not clear what the carbon footprint of all those ovens might be. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.