ABOUT 3,500 people in Colmar, France, sat down last weekend to eat choucroute, drink wine, and sing the old songs. They wore berets. They broke bread together on long tables. They were loud and happy and French. And the radical left lost its mind.
The company behind the gathering is called Le Canon Francais. For roughly £60 you get four courses of regional food, all the wine you can drink, and several hours of what can only be described as communal joy. The crowd is young, mostly in their 20s and 30s. The songs are old standards by Michel Delpech and Joe Dassin, songs their grandparents loved, and these young people know every word. The phenomenon has swept provincial France, filling hangars and fairgrounds, drawing thousands at a time.
