Going to a restaurant and having the staff inform you that a dish has been prepared there changes the perception, even subtly, of what will be tasted next.
Countries like France, whose gastronomy has been Intangible Heritage of Humanity since 2010, have been placing emphasis on giving value to fait maison dishes for almost a decade, that is, those that are prepared entirely in the restaurant.
Olivia Grégoire, French Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Commerce, Crafts and Tourism, announced last year that she wants diners' ambiguity about whether what they are eating has been prepared on the premises or not to disappear forever by 2025.
The minister's proposal still has to be debated in Parliament, as reported last October by the French media La Tribune Dimanche, but the objective would be for all French restaurants – which number around 175,000 – to be obliged to inform customers of whether the food is fait maison or not.
Since 2014, restaurants in France can include their own seal or mention on the menu indicating that the dishes are made there, but this is only a voluntary measure. With the intention of making it much stricter, the French country wants to reinforce three objectives: the right of consumers to know whether the dish they are eating has been prepared in the restaurant or not, the right for establishments that do so to be able to differentiate themselves from those that serve already prepared preparations and, finally, that of promoting the protection of national gastronomy.
And in Spain, what is the current scenario? Would it be possible to reach an agreement similar to that in France? Currently there is no measure in force that requires establishments to indicate that their dishes are homemade. The locals do it voluntarily and, in addition, this helps them position themselves better in the market with respect to the competition, the general secretary of Hospitality and Restaurants of Spain, Emilio Gallego, explains to La Vanguardia. He states that “providing information of the highest possible quality to the consumer is always something very positive”, and that, without a doubt, this measure goes in favor of this.
In statements also to this medium, the general secretary of FACUA-Consumers in Action, Rubén Sánchez, values this measure as “an advance in consumer protection”, since, according to him, “we must take into account that there are restaurants that part of their food is not made by them." He refers to the fact that many establishments are supplied by catering companies, or that they serve "directly industrial, pre-cooked" products, which is why he considers that it would be an interesting initiative.
However, Gallego also assures that, currently, "transferring this regulation to our country is not so simple", given that all management of information of this type to the consumer corresponds more to the autonomous communities than to the central government, something that is not It happens in France.
The general secretary of the group of restaurateurs and hoteliers in Spain states that they have realized that these data “are increasingly worrying customers: the origin, manufacturing, places of production of the food, where it is produced and manufactured and where it is They have cooked.” They are aware that it would give home-cooked food establishments more credibility to provide information that was certified. FACUA-Consumers in Action believes the same and believes that the advantages of French regulations are clear, because they provide transparency and honesty.
Even so, they consider that there would be many difficulties in guaranteeing that this measure was complied with in Spain, and they are harsh with the administration. Sánchez believes there is still a long way to go at the level of market control and that there is a lack of effort on the part of the administrations to verify that rules related to food and catering that have already been approved are complied with.
There is thus a long way to go in the legal protection of the artisan sector in the restoration, given that the French initiative does not address artisanal work. Although it does refer to the importance of indicating the dishes that have been prepared in the same premises, the proposed regulation also includes establishments that produce on a large scale, such as restaurant chains or fast food establishments.
