Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Restos du Cœur (short for
Les Restaurants du Cœur) is a charitable organization that collects and
distributes food, money and clothes for the needy. It was founded by a comedian named Coluche
who was known for his irreverent sense of humor. He died in 1986 at age 41 in a motorcycle
accident. The first of the Restos opened
in Paris in 1985, but soon the Restos were all over the country. When Coluche learned that it was costing
the European Union more to store surplus food than it would to distribute it
to the needy, he went to the European Parliament and pleaded for the
surpluses to be released. They are now
available to four organizations. Now a large voluntary
organization, Restos du Cœur is organized by departments of France, so there
are over 100 departmental organizations now.
All of this has to be
coordinated somewhere. As we walked along the Seine on
a Sunday not long ago, we were admiring the péniches (long, flat boats, many of them used as houseboats or
cafés). One in particular caught my
eye because it had the Restaurants du Cœur logo on it. My first thought was “how
quaint; they have opened one of these Restos for the needy on the
Seine.” But as we got closer, I could
see that this sparkling white péniche
was really being used for offices. I’m sure that Restos du Cœur is
big enough now that they have offices in many places; but this one, since it
is docked near other boats for the firemen, police, and other government
functions, I think may have been donated by the City of Paris or some such
governmental group for the use of the Restos du Cœur. In the first few years, the
Restos remained open only in Winter, and then decided in 1988 to stay open
longer, to support the neediest. Now
Restos du Cœur feeds hundreds of thousands of people, serving 75 million
meals per year, thanks to over 500,000 donors and some public dollars. Less than 10 percent of its
funds are used for administrative overhead.
So over 90 percent of its money is spent directly on those who need
help. Restos du Cœur works together
with and supports other organizations like Médecins du Monde
(Doctors of the World) to help with other needs, like providing tents for the
homeless. Then the City of Paris removes
the tents and tries to encourage the occupants to live in one of the huge
homeless shelters on the periphery of the city. It seems to be an endless cycle, with the
goal of shaming the government into doing more for the poor. From what I can tell, the
strategy works fairly well. When I see young people in
Médecins du Monde t-shirts out on the sidewalk soliciting donations, I am
always polite when they stop me to make their plea. But I’ve learned from these encounters that
these groups are not allowed to solicit foreign donations. As soon as I explain that I’m an American,
they politely thank me and wish me a good day. They cannot accept my euros. By the way, there are now
organizations similar to Restos du Cœur in Belgium and Germany. And if you’re confused about
the sameness or difference between Médecins du Monde and Doctors Without
Borders (Médecins sans Frontieres), that may be because both organizations
were founded by small groups of doctors that included Bernard Kouchner,
who is a politician and diplomat as well as doctor. Kouchner left Médecins sans
Frontieres to help found Médecins du Monde when he disagreed with the policy
of the former organization on the issue of publicizing the atrocities that
the aid workers witness. Kouchner
thinks these things must be publicized, and that the aid cannot be separated
from politics. I think the harsh
reality is that he is exactly right about that. I may not agree with all of Kouchner’s politics,
but he has spent a great deal of time out in the field providing aid in all
sorts of places; and he’s spent time in politics. He should know about this. In spite of Kouchner’s far left
politics, Nicolas Sarkozy appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sarkozy, as you probably know, is a member
of the conservative UMP. For accepting this post, the
Socialist Party expelled Kouchner from its ranks. This is the second time a political party
expelled Kouchner; early in his career, the French Communist Party kicked him
out when he attempted to change its leadership. Ah, the colorful scenes of
French politics. Last night, we had the blessing
of being able to talk about American politics with our friends John and Linda
who are now in Paris for a month.
They’ve rented a beautiful apartment on the rue du Cherche Midi, not
far from us at all. We went to their place for
drinks and hors d’oeuvres yesterday, then we all decided to go to La Petite Chaise for dinner. After I made the reservation on the phone,
John said he was impressed (with my French). We had a wonderful dinner. I ordered the daily special, a veal T-bone
served with the restaurants wonderful scalloped potatoes and carrots (in
Julia Child’s cookbook, if you care to try it) and superb girolles. Tom was good: he ate poached salmon, with
rice and white sauce, but then he had a big piece of chocolate cake for
dessert. Linda was very pleased with the
magret de canard (duck breast) that
she’d ordered. She and I each ordered
crème brulée for dessert. It was
yummy. As we lingered in conversation after dinner, we
decided that this would be a perfect place to have the Sanibel East lunch on
the 23rd. So Tom and I
worked out the details of that reservation with our favorite server at this
fine restaurant. Plans have been made;
the party will happen. Photos will be
taken, and will be released to the Sanibel papers for publication. After nearly allowing our
stocks become depleted in the kitchen, we went out yesterday afternoon to the
Saint Germain market and had a lovely time selecting fruits, cheeses,
terrine, country ham, country bread, fresh milk, eggs, and juice yesterday. We especially enjoyed chatting with the
lady who runs the fromagerie. Check
out the wrapping paper she uses, at right.
It is both pretty and amusing. |
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Note
the photo of New York City at night, under the Restos du Cœur
sign.
The
Blues Café peniche. Note the laundry
hanging on the left.
Cheese
wrapper from the fromagerie in the Saint Germain market. |
