Elaine Sciolino’s article  “A French Dining Staple Is Losing Its Place at the Table”  published in The New York Times on July 30, 2013 discusses how the French are eating less bread than they had throughout history. Bread is the staple food in Europe. According to the article, “The average Frenchman these days eats only half a baguette a day compared with almost a whole baguette in 1970 and more than three in 1900. Women… eat about a third less than men, and young people almost 30 percent less than  decade ago.” This decline has gotten many worried. In particular, Onservatoire du Pain which is the bakers’ and millers’ lobby is so worried about the topic that they have started a nationwide campaign. In their campaign, they are promoting the benefits of eating bread, including the fact that it leads to good health. Their slogan is similar to the American Slogan “Got Milk?” Some of the reasonings behind why eating bread is declining includes losing weight, saving time, and skipping breakfast. Bread is losing its place to “rivals like breakfast cereals , pasta, and rice.” The article also includes another reason which researchers and bakers believe is one of the main reasons why the decline is taking place. According to the article, the methods for making the bread has changed greatly throughout the past century. The quality of bread has gone down greatly since the 1920s. This is because of the mechanization which contribute to “the making of bread that lacked taste and aroma” as well as “the transition from slow breadmaking with a sourdough base to a quick process using yeast.” Also, these days the bread is artificial compared to the traditional French bread. These breads are full of additives. Thus, the traditional baguette is more expensive than the ordinary baguette. Aside from discussing the decline of the bread in France, the article also discusses how important bread is to the country buy talking about the national bread festival and an annual contest. The national bread festival is “held every May around the feast of Saint Honore (the patron saint of bakers) so that the French can sample different breads, learn how bread is made and even learn how to become a baker.” Aside from this, the city of Paris holds an annual contest “to select the city’s best artisanal baguette maker, with winner’s breads then gracing the tables of President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace for a year.” Both these events emphasize how important bread is to the country.

Vivian Yee’s article “In Age of Anywhere Delivery, the Food Meets You for Lunch” published in The New York Times on October 5^th, 2013 discusses how easy it has become for New Yorkers to order food anytime, anywhere. Throughout the past few years, technology has made it simple to do things using only your fingertips. People can make appointments, order clothes, and check their Facebook statuses “in the flicker of a smartphone screen.” Now life has gotten even easier for New Yorkers by having food-delivery apps “to order anything their stomachs desire to the very spot where they stand.” Yee mentions how these days, food deliveries are not limited only to houses and offices “or even, for that matter, to a place with an address.” One can have their breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anything in-between delivered wherever they desire, ranging from parks and beaches all the way to piers. Yee also shows how great the service of the deliveries are compared to other states by including a fragment of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s interview in which Sotomayor mentions how quickly food is delivered unlike Washington D.C. New Yorkers have taken advantage of this luxury. According to the interviews conducted for this article, people order for their food to be delivered to save the time and trouble. Food is delivered to police officers while they are patrolling, businessmen sitting in their cars, picnickers in parks and beaches, gyms where people are working out, and even workers working in a manhole! Restaurant owners don’t mind all these requests for deliveries because their sales increase and they get business. According to Robert Asmail, the manager of Due Fratelli Pizza in Park Slope, Brooklyn “…we go anyplace! It doesn’t matter! …I don’t care….They buy, we send it out.” So do you plan on being like all those New Yorkers and have your food delivered?