Monday Musing ~ French “Art de Vivre”

susan haven
3 min readFeb 8, 2021

Is nothing sacred? Covid is seeming to change all the things that make us human. Ok, that’s a little much, but this New York Times article reports that the French Labor Ministry will now allow employers to eat lunch at their desks.

I read the article and had to process this a bit. The government, up until this week, banned employees from eating lunch at their desks.

The ban was consistent with the hyper-regulation of workers’ rights enshrined in a labor code that took form in the 20th century on the rough premise that every owner of a business was a ruthless capitalist bent on exploiting workers — say, by making them work through their lunch hours. It also reflected the fierce French attachment to the country’s “art de vivre,” incompatible with the heresy of eating a lamb cutlet with sautéed potatoes while gazing at a spreadsheet. New York Times — French to scrap law

So not only are the French people not eating at restaurants or cafes, they are now “allowed” to eat at their desks. I’m kind of sad about this, actually. Although I have not yet been to France, I am a wee bit obsessed with French culture and fashion and specifically the aforementioned “art de vivre,” which American life sorely lacks in some areas. I feel like here in America, it’s all bigger, faster, sooner, while France is more relax and enjoy. Your life is your…

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susan haven
susan haven

Written by susan haven

Poet. Mathematician. Follower of my curiosity. Also, a finder of rogue socks.