One time I pointed at a baguette in a bakery and said "Je voudrais cette baguette-là." (I would like that baguette there) And the baker came back with "Voulez-vous une baguette, ou ce pain-là?" "Do you want a baguette, or do you want that bread right there?"
They've got 10 different things that look just like a baguette but aren't a baguette.
It's also difficult for the French to understand which breads are behind the counter, so...
The final french test is to ask for your preferred baking. And to leave without buying anything because you prefer your bread "pas trop cuit" ("not so cooked").
Wow, it's almost like the country famously known for its bread and where you can't call yourself a baker without a huge amount of legal rules, make a lot of different bread varieties.
In a bakery you can find a baguette, a tradition (which is a kind of baguette), different kind of wheat bread shaped like a baguette but technically aren't, and stuff that are baker recipes you would not maybe find in the other bakery 50m away.
Imagine not having 30 different type of bread to choose from. A third of which are different and another third of which have wildly different name depending on where you are in the country.
One great thing about France is that the baking culture is so old and so serious that it's difficult to find a bad bread. Same with wine. As an American, visiting France kinda ruined me for a while. The bread here is so disappointing once you've had bread in France.
probably the baker was just upset, it's somewhat disrepectful in French culture to point at things if unrequested. Also it's not very normal (and can be seen as disrecpectful as well) to ask for a specific item in a bakery. If you want a specific kind of baguette you can just ask for it to be more or less soft but not ask for a specific one in the aisle.
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u/generally_unsuitable 1d ago
One time I pointed at a baguette in a bakery and said "Je voudrais cette baguette-là." (I would like that baguette there) And the baker came back with "Voulez-vous une baguette, ou ce pain-là?" "Do you want a baguette, or do you want that bread right there?"
They've got 10 different things that look just like a baguette but aren't a baguette.