Taste and food patriotism: France's weapons in the war against Huelva strawberries
For the first time, 50% of this red fruit consumed by the French has been grown in the country
ParisSpanish strawberries, mostly produced in Huelva, have flooded French supermarkets for decades. Their price is clearly lower than French varieties. But little by little, strawberries produced in France have been gaining ground. According to the sector, for the first time, 50% of this fruit consumed in France has been grown in the country. The rest is imported, mainly from Spain. "It hasn't happened suddenly. Over 15 years, we have gained 10% of the market share from Spanish strawberries. It hasn't been a sudden change," explains Emeline Vanespen, director of the main French association of strawberry producers (AOPn Fraises et Framboises de France).
France declared war on Spanish strawberries over 30 years ago, when images of French producers emptying trucks loaded with Spanish strawberries on French roads went around the world. It was 1994. Since then, other isolated incidents have occurred, but French farmers have opted for less violent methods.
Competing with southern strawberries has always been difficult. In terms of price, those from Huelva are unbeatable: while they are sold at a price of between 4 and 6 euros per kilo, French ones can cost 12 euros per kilo. The French strategy to limit imports of red fruits from Spain has been to produce more aromatic and sweeter varieties – such as gariguette, mara des bois, or ciflorette– aimed at consumers looking for quality local produce, even if it is more expensive.
French strawberries, saved
“It is the gariguette variety that has saved strawberry production in France. Without it, the market would be 100% Spanish today and I think there would be no more strawberries from here, we would have closed”, assures Pascal Beteille, a French producer, in statements to TF1. French strawberries, grown mainly in the department of Òlt and Garonne (New Aquitaine), can cost up to three times more per kilo than those imported from Huelva.
"French varieties are tastier and more fragile, they cannot be exported. They have more flavor. I think that if we had not proposed a differentiation between French and Spanish strawberries, the consumer would always end up buying the cheaper one", states Emeline Vanespen. "If the price is higher, it must be justified with added value. In this case, flavor", adds the head of AOPn Fraises et Framboises de France.
Food patriotism
The discourse of taste has become a marketing tool and even a form of food patriotism. Coinciding with the start of the strawberry season, French televisions and radios have launched a campaign to promote national strawberries. On the private radio station RTL, a commentator, dressed in a strawberry-patterned shirt, proposed a tasting of the fruit live to the presenter and another guest, featuring a French variety and a Spanish one. "The difference in taste is impressive," he himself assured.
On the public television channel France 2, the journalist Axel de Tarlé also brought "gariguette" strawberries to the studio, and while the other presenters were eating, he assured that the French one "is about to supplant the Spanish one, which is inedible." Hours later, the program's tweet with the video of this moment was retweeted by the French Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, with the phrase: "One more step towards sovereign strawberries."
Rematch
In another broadcast, in this case on the private television channel BFMTV, collaborator Cécile Duflot, an ecologist ex-minister, made a plea for French strawberries and shamelessly assured that those from Huelva have no flavor. The presenter introduced her by talking about the "revenge of the French strawberry". Duflot recalled the "terrible war" between French and Spanish producers in 1994 and concluded by assuring that the French strawberry "has won the war" against the Spanish one.
"It has been proven that it is better to eat these strawberries (the Galician ones) than the large and tasteless ones (Spanish)", she stated. The ex-minister did not hide that her speech was pure food patriotism: "We can vote with a ballot, but we can also vote by buying a tray of strawberries produced in France", she assured.
Duflot's words are reminiscent of those of fellow ex-minister Ségolène Royal, who on one occasion attacked Spanish tomatoes – another product that France imports in large quantities – and almost caused a diplomatic incident.
