Wars and Bread: Resilience Through Rationing

Both World Wars tested French bakers' ingenuity. Flour shortages forced creativity—bakers added potatoes, chestnuts, even acorns to stretch supplies. The "pain de guerre" (war bread) was nobody's ideal, but it kept communities fed.

During the Nazi occupation, bread became resistance. Baker networks smuggled messages in loaves, hid refugees in flour storage rooms. Simone Weil, working incognito in a Marseille bakery, documented how women bakers coordinated underground supply chains, ensuring Jewish families received bread despite restrictions. These stories of courage remind us that boulangeries have always been more than mere shops—they're community lifelines.