Oé, we have a new nugget to present to you, where Oé wines are ready and chilled to be tasted : Le Pain Quotidien . You know ? We invite you to meet Savannah from the team to learn more about the concept. Let's go !
Can you tell us about Le Pain Quotidien? What is the story behind this beautiful adventure?
“The story behind Le Pain Quotidien began long before the opening of the first bakery in Brussels in 1990, with Alain Coumont's passion for cooking and for quality ingredients. Alain grew up in a family of restaurateurs and chefs. As a child, he spent hours standing in a chair watching his aunt shape loaves of bread and bake pastries.
In 1987, when Alain opened his first restaurant in Brussels, he looked for bread whose quality was that of the bread of his childhood, in vain. He then realized that the only way to obtain bread that lived up to his expectations was to reproduce the rustic sourdough bread of his childhood.
This is how he opened a bakery in October 1990 rue Dansaert in Brussels, where he can knead organic flour, salt and water into rustic and tasty loaves of bread. Quickly, the bakery becomes a place of life: Alain installs a large common wooden table where everyone can come at any time of the day to savor simple and authentic baker's recipes from organic sourdough bread: slices of bread, toast , pastries...
Le Pain Quotidien was born! Even today, in the four corners of the world, Le Pain Quotidien remains faithful to Alain's convictions: quality, conviviality, simplicity and authenticity.”
With the Oé team, we share the same convictions !
How many people support Le Pain Quotidien?
“In France, there are around 150 people passionate about bringing Le Pain Quotidien to life.”
What commitments do you make for the planet?
“Alain Coumont has always been convinced that health comes from the plate and that to eat better you have to choose simple, seasonal ingredients from organic farming, without GMOs or additives. In France, 80% of the products on our menu and 100% of our breads come from organic farming.
Beyond promoting more sustainable agriculture that respects biodiversity, we are also committed to reducing food waste at each level of our organization:
- In our bakery workshop, we reuse non-compliant loaves of bread to produce a new seaweed bread the next day.
- On the menu of our restaurants, we have imagined gourmet recipes to reduce the waste of bread and our pastries: French toast with pastries, panzanella-style salad with croutons of the next day's bread...
- Our baristas do not throw away the coffee grounds produced by our machines: some is recovered and made available to our guests for them to use at home as fertilizer, the other is given to an urban agricultural cooperative which used as a substrate to grow organic oyster mushrooms.
- We work with partners who are equally committed to reducing waste by using all fruits and vegetables, perfect and imperfect, without distinction of size, color or shape.
- We have been collaborating with Too Good To Go for 2 years and have saved more than 10,000 baskets.
We have brought together all these actions in an approach called “Les Petits Pas” because we are convinced that it is the small daily steps that lead to big changes.”
Want to know more ? Discover all their commitments on their website
What is your favorite wine pairing?
“A true epicurean of Italian origin, I can't resist a nice plate of ricotta and spinach tortelli accompanied by a glass of Pouilly-Fuissé. My extra thing? Cover the tortelli with Parmigiano Reggiano, 18 months of ripening, a delight!”
Do you have an anecdote to tell us?
“During a trip to Lisbon in Portugal a few years ago, I discovered a UFO (unidentified wine object?) on the menu of a restaurant: orange wine. Orange wine is a white wine vinified like red wine with maceration: the white grapes ferment with their solid parts, namely the skins and sometimes even the stalks. At the same time more digestible with a feeling of less alcohol, this wine challenged me and surprised me: it breaks traditional codes by using ancestral methods.
Everything I love in cooking, baking or wine: making something good, something new by using techniques and know-how from yesteryear.”
Why did you add Oé wines to your menu? What do you like about Oé?
“Because simplicity, quality and authenticity are our key words, and because we are constantly looking for partners who share these values, we fell in love with Oé's wine-growing approach and commitments.
Alain Coumont himself defines himself as "a cook, baker, farmer and winegrower", so it was important for us to offer our guests organic quality wines, produced in France, with respect for the winegrowers, the soils and the environment. biodiversity, in full transparency.
That's what we liked about Oé! And then, we love to tell the story of our organic wheat breads and that of our common table. And now we are delighted to be able to tell the story of the person behind a bottle of Oé wine displayed on our tables.”
Where can I find Le Pain Quotidien?
“In France, you can find our Le Pain Quotidien restaurants in Paris, Lille and Aix en Provence.
Find our exact addresses on our website!
We are also present in Europe (in Belgium, England, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland), on the other side of the Atlantic, in the United States, in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, as well than in the Middle East in the United Arab Emirates and in Asia, Japan and Hong Kong.”
If you want to know more about Le Pain Quotidien, we invite you to visit their website here!
