Foreigners don't see the outside - Vinson
In Kunming, Yunnan Province, there is a historic Beimen Street. There is a French bakery on this street, and the owner of the restaurant, Vincent, is a native Frenchman, and the restaurant serves a variety of traditional French breads and a variety of authentic French light meals.
Vinson: Hello, welcome, do you want any bread? Today there are fresh baguettes, freshly baked, and lye bread.
Vincent's bakery restaurant in Kunming
Vinson was born in 1989 in Lorraine, northeastern France. His father was a chef and worked in many three-Michelin-starred restaurants. Vincent's mother was a wine taster. The son inherited his father's business, and when he grew up, Vincent also became a chef.
In 2011, Vinson worked at a French restaurant in Washington, USA. One day, a friend said to him, "There is a Chinese girl who wants to learn French, would you like to take in a student in your spare time?" Vincent agreed, and this Chinese girl was Hai Xuan, who later became Vincent's wife.
Hai Xuan: I was learning French at the time, and my friend recommended him, so we met. In class, other teachers teach with textbooks, but he teaches with recipes, so my French and food-related French vocabulary are very rich, and my vocabulary outside of food is very small.
Hai Xuan was working as an environmental activist in Washington at the time. Later, because of his work, Hai Xuan went to Hungary, Sweden, France, Nepal and other countries. At the beginning of 2015, Hai Xuan and Wen Sen registered their marriage. At the end of that year, Hai returned to her hometown of Kunming, Yunnan Province, and her husband, Vincent, also came to China.
Hai Xuan said that it was not difficult to convince Vincent to come to China. In his second year in Kunming, Vincennes' French bakery restaurant was officially opened.
Vincennes' bakery
The store sells authentic French bread such as croissants, baguettes, and lye bread...... Most of the flour and butter used to make bread comes from France. Vincent said, "It's hard to get started," and business didn't start out very well, so they had to patiently nurture the market little by little, constantly introducing their bread to customers, and business gradually improved.
Vinson said that when the baguette first opened, the store could sell about 10 baguettes a day, but now the number has become 40.
At the end of 2022, UNESCO announced the inscription of the craft and culture of the French baguette (baguette) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In France, baguettes have strict standards for making and baking.
In an exclusive interview with the reporter of the global information broadcast of the main station, Vincent introduced in detail the process of making baguettes in his bakery, after mixing the flour and water, the dough should be left for a while, so that the "pores" in the dough will be better, and this process takes about 1 hour. After adding salt, you should continue to mix the dough, maybe about 1 minute, and it will be very even. Vinson said that the next steps, he made a little tweaking according to the habits of the Chinese.
French bread at Vincennes' bakery
After years of careful management, there are now many repeat customers in Vincennes' bakery. Vinson said the repeat customers were roughly between the ages of 30 and 50. At the same time, many of Kunming's cafes and restaurants also come to the city, regularly ordering bread crusts from Vincennes' bakery to make burgers and sandwiches. Wholesale orders are coming in a steady stream.
A light French meal at Vincennes' Baking Restaurant
In 2020, Vincennes' bakery began to produce a variety of French light meals. Vincent said that compared to Kunming's local dishes, these French snacks have a lighter taste and some customers will like it.
Vincennes' bakery
Today, Vincent is very proud of his identity as "Kunming's son-in-law". Whenever someone says to him, "You are half a China expert", he will be very happy. Vincent, who has been a chef for many years, has also learned a lot of Chinese cuisine over the years.
Vincent: We have a habit every Spring Festival because Hai Xuan's grandfather is from Beijing, so we have to make dumplings every year. I make dumplings and make squirrel fish, fish-flavored shredded pork, fish-flavored eggplant and celery beef, and sea rice and winter melon.
Vincent and Haixuan's grandmother make dumplings together
Every Spring Festival, Vincent and Hai Wei would write a vice spring coupling and paste it on their doorstep, one in French and the other in Chinese. During the Spring Festival this year, Vincent's parents came to Kunming to visit their son's family, and his father was learning Chinese and seriously brought his homework book.
Hai Xuan: My father is over 70 years old, and he brought his homework book with him when he came this year. His father would learn Chinese with our daughter and 6-year-old granddaughter, and it turned out that the 70-year-old and the 6-year-old (one old and one young) had similar Chinese progress and could complement each other.
Vincent is writing Spring Festival couplets
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. Vincent said that he has been in business in Kunming for nearly 10 years and has witnessed the gradual expansion of the baking market in Kunming, and his own bakery has grown with the Chinese market. He is sincerely proud to be able to bring the delicious taste of French baking to the people of Kunming and contribute to the gastronomic exchanges between France and China. His wife, Hai Xuan, added:
Hai Xuan: I think food is universal. We get to know each other through food, and food is a bridge for people-to-people exchanges. I think that as a French daughter-in-law, he is the son-in-law of Kunming, and the cooperation between us is very good. We feel that we have a high sense of happiness living in Kunming, and I think it is also very good for Vincent to integrate into the culture here.
Vincent and Hai Xuan
On July 26, the Paris Olympics will be grandly opened. Vinson said he could not return home to watch the Olympics because the store was open. At the end of the interview, Vincent wished the Paris Olympics a complete success in French.
Vinson: I wish the Paris Olympics a complete success, and welcome Chinese friends to Paris to watch the Olympics live.
Image courtesy of the interviewee
Editor - Lin Ying
Moderator—Ge Peng
Production - Yang Xiaolei
Sign-off—Enron
Executive Producer - Pan Xiaoying