After the Second World War, a marketing agency called Sopexa was formed to encourage the export of French food abroad. Here, Marion Mourand, the marketing manager for Apéritif à la française, one of Sopexa's major events that showcased French food and beverages in Dubai this month, talks about the show.
q What exactly is Apéritif à la française?
a Now in Dubai in its 8th edition and the 9th edition worldwide, it was formed nine years ago in Paris and was thought up as an international event. The number of cities it is in always varies. This year it is in seven cities worldwide.
Why bother promoting French food when it has such a strong reputation already?
If you have the image of French food being very good food, you might also have the idea of French food as not for being every day - more as something special and expensive, something complicated.
What you are saying is that French food is so good, it is not eaten enough?
It will not be something you buy every day. In many countries it has this kind of elite food image and people are kind of scared of it.
French cuisine does seem complicated.
In France, there is tradition of aperitif where before dinner or before lunch, everyone gathers and has a drink together and eat small simple foods, which maybe cheese, bread and charcuterie. It's something which is a really easygoing tradition and everyone is doing it across every class of society. It very convivial.
So are all the foods at Apéritif à la française eaten as an aperitif?
Not really. That was the beginning of the idea for the whole concept that was launched nine years ago. We wanted to present French food as easy and for everyone. The name Aperitif came from that. Our marketing agency launched the concept worldwide for the ministry of agriculture. The idea was to launch it every first Thursday of June every year.
So different cities around the world all ran the event on the same night last week?
More or less. It is pretty much the same week. For Dubai, the concept is a little bit different. In some countries it is an event only for the public, here we are targeting mainly professionals.
Where are they from?
Most of the professionals come from four or five-star hotels. We also have cafes and catering, Starbucks, Shakespeare & Co, all of these people are coming. It's really mixed.
What are some interesting foods on show?
The Lescure cream is very interesting because it is a cream from a cooperative society and its only really small producers. They can really emphasise the quality of the products and what the cows are fed. It's a really interesting process. There is also French beef, which was banned before in the UAE, plus waters and pastries.
Given the euro crisis, are French firms desperate to sell abroad?
It's becoming more important. They need to sell, so it's important for them to push their sales abroad.
twitter: Follow and share our breaking business news. Follow us
iPad users can follow our twitterfeed via Flipboard - just search for Ind_Insights on the app.
