http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/5231217.htm
Importers say politics of war have not changed buyers' preferences
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
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The Bay Area has always whistled a different tune than the rest of the country. Right now it sounds more like "La Marseillaise" than "Battle Hymn of the Republic." While some people in the rest of the country seethe at France's unwillingness to support U.S. action against Iraq, Bay Area residents have hardly paused while they fill their shopping carts with Bordeaux wine, pate, Perrier and fromage.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., reportedly wants to punish France for not supporting the administration's position on Iraq by imposing trade sanctions against wine and water imports. Cubbie's, a restaurant in Beaufort, N.C., made headlines by changing its menu to read "freedom fries" instead of french fries and putting a sign in the window explaining it was motivated by patriotism.
Anecdotal information about an anti-France backlash has surfaced in other parts of the country. In Fairfax, Va., customers cleared the shelves of American-made bottled water at a local supermarket before last weekend's snow storm, but left French brands such as Evian untouched, said Chris Barnekov, a local resident who personally avoids French products. "A sign should be posted warning that drinking French water might cause one to turn into a yellow-bellied, lily-livered weasel," he said, a sign of his outrage over France's opposition to the use of force against Iraq.
And not surprisingly, the uproar has spread to the Internet, with Web sites like www.francestinks.com sprouting and encouraging a boycott of certain French products. The Web site encourages "loyal American patriots" to re-enact a modified version of the Boston Tea Party. On March 4 at midnight, like-minded activists across the country should flush their French products down the toilet, the Web site says.
Yet such Francophobic feelings have not surfaced in the Bay Area.
"I spent the whole morning packing up a (French) burgundy that was pre-sold," said John Rittmaster, the wine director of Prima, a restaurant and wine store in Walnut Creek. Local wine buyers have not mixed their politics with their vintages at his shop, although they have in the past, he said. When South Africa practiced apartheid, many local connoisseurs refused to sample its wine.
Rittmaster suspects that anti-French activists were not buying French wine before anyway, and that in the Bay Area sympathies mostly go the other direction. "(The activists) wouldn't know foie gras from hamburger," he joked. "They may want to pop off about France, but they wouldn't know what end of the wine bottle to open."
Other local merchants also reported no visible reaction to French products, but are less disparaging of those who might feel that way. "As a company we have not seen any changes in demand," said Chantal Griffin, a sales manager at Domestic Cheese, a San Francisco importer that distributes 45,000 pounds of French cheese a month to stores throughout Northern California. Griffin, whose family is French (but whose husband is English), said that she is sensitive to the possibility of a backlash, and is keeping a lookout. But so far the only politically motivated boycott she's seen is that some customers refuse to buy Israeli feta cheese for political reasons.
One of her customers, the Junket, a gourmet food shop in El Cerrito, also has seen no sign of an anti-France backlash among its customers. "Let's face it, the brie is still the best," said Cindy Fritsch, who owns the store with her husband.
Other importers contacted by the Times also were skeptical there will be a boycott or backlash. "This is the left coast here," said Karen Miller, the general manager of the De Choix Specialty Food Co., in San Francisco. "Nobody here supports Bush. If anything, demand is going to increase."
The strength of the euro is a much bigger factor for French product importers because it makes the products more expensive, Miller added. And as far as activism goes, most Bay Area cheese activism focuses on rallying support for local dairies, she said.
The French Government Tourist Office tracks the number of travelers from the United States who visit France. It is still too early to tell whether the current political disagreement will translate into less tourism, said Rick Graham, the press attaché for the Western Region office in Los Angeles. With the aftereffects of 9/11 and the potential military conflict already upending people's travel plans, it is difficult to tell what caused the 18 percent drop in American visitors to France last year, he said.
Graham's office does field calls from travelers, however, and he said about half the calls are supportive and half are critical -- an unscientific but perhaps revealing barometer. "People are very adamant about their positions, whether for or against," he said.