‘Pain au chocolat’ a pain in the neck for French parliament

Screen grab showing different price depending on what the pastry is called (BFMTV)

PARIS: The French phrasebooks may have to remove the term ‘pain au chocolat’, one of the few French phrases that many tourists can muster, from the food chapter, if some French lawmakers get their way.
Their amendment is one of thousands holding up the passage of a new French food law. The lawmakers from Gascony, better known for its rugby, bull running and duck-meat delicacies, say the sweet pastry they call “chocolatine” originates from their region.
Aurelien Pradie and other right-wing MPs from the area say the law should be more supportive of local gastronomy, including “a pastry whose name historically draws on origins in the Gascony region and which is the pride of the south of France.”
Little matter that most of the children across the rest of France who traditionally get a pain au chocolat at the end of their school day would struggle to recognize the term.
But Amendment 2064’s chances of making it into law may anyway be slim, as it competes for debating time with weightier proposals on improving food safety or banning pesticides.