Tag: middle class

Categories
Mediawatch Transport

Let them eat baguette

baguette_akkuzaA Happy New Year to all J’accuse readers and diehards. This blog starts its heavy trek towards celebrating ten years of blogging after an unforced hiatus. No, that is not a word stolen from Varist’s vocabulary. I return well rested from a visit to the islands that are fast becoming the second home with a wealth of newly absorbed information about the daily travails of the Maltese citizen.

The general outlook on Malta seems to be fair. My partner likes to think of Maltese as hobbits because, as she says, “You think of food first and foremost, wherever you go.” In a way it is true. Back from a trip abroad? Visiting a new city? Our first enquiries and experiments are culinary. Veni, Mangi, Judici. Our trips are coloured and defined by food. Panem et circences does take on a new meaning where the Maltese are concerened because we are a foody people.

“Kemm kilt pastizzi ja hanzir?” It is hard to speak collectively about taste in food. There is the eternal battle between quality and abundance. Somewhere along the lines there is a dividing line (or lines) that might set aside a different set of classes from Joseph’s Mittilklass. Food in all its simplicity might be venerated for the simple purpose of gratification – fenkata tajba or a simple but spot-on meal at Rita’s at Ghar Lapsi. It might take on a whole new fifty shades of implications of perceived class like when we sell a recipe book as being the one “miktub mir-ragel tal-President”.

The quest for honest to god simple good food is now complicated with the invasion of the little italians. Sicilians, Apulians, Neapolitans and Tuscans all giving a thumbs down to Renzi’s dream and scuttling their euros to Joseph’s Malta. So long as he does not get the bright idea to hike up VAT on drink as they did in the Duchy this year (up to 17% from 3% – a pint now costs 5.40 euro) they will keep coming. Is your divine tagliata di manzo con rucola parmigiano simply a culinary venture or your tiny participation in a money laundering venture set up by the sons and relatives of the camorra, mafia, ‘ndrangheta or sacra corona? Does it taste the same once you get to know that?

And what of that burgeoning empire of Hugo’s? Surely those millions cannot all come from selling a delicious platter of sushi or a well-aimed shot at making a digestible pad thai? Is it the jet-set factor? Does it pay to be seen eating at Hugo’s tapas/oriental and now middle east or burger?

Cook at home? You can shop at Lidl’s now that More has bitten the bullet of the fast money laundered buck. Nobody need know the origin of your faux foie gras once you’ve unpacked it out of the box. As for the idea of plenty I was overwhelmed when I was told that I had 24 litres of water for free since I had spent the right amount at the exquisitely stocked GS supermarket in Naxxar. Then there are charities trying to set up funds to bring fountains to remote African villages or stoves to Guatemalan denizens. It’s all so confusing.

But back to class and food. Muscat’s dream of creating a new mittilkless has hit the metaphorical brick wall when it comes to AirMalta. The people who are so used to measuring their travelling experience by the food that they eat (and the more it seems to be “free” the better) have been told that henceforth they are to be handed only baguette and water on all Air Malta flights. For baguette read a tiny bread roll that would not satisfy even the most Mittilkless of desires.

The point is not really the food on board the flights (the longest of which is around the four hour mark) but the principle of telling the people of the bountiful plate that they will have to make do with the snacklet in order to save those “ghasafar tac-comb”. There does not seem to have been a shift in ticket prices. No lower fares to reflect the lower (food) fare on board. The government obsessed with class and class aspirations, the one that makes a meal of free lunches on the taxpayers account has told the people that “they can eat baguette”.

Deep down it has little to do with the economics of saving a faltering national airline. It has much to do with the hunger of the aspirant mittelklass and their aspirations for inflight microwaved chicken or lasagne.

To some people it might have just been an amusing snack on board a quaint airline. To the emancipated wave of mittelmaltin that Joseph inspired it meant the world.

Categories
Campaign 2013

That elusive middle class

I was listening to yet another radio discussion on France INFO about the Salon d’Automobile that is on in Paris at the moment. It’s actually called the “Mondial d’Auto” but nostalgics still refer to it with the original name. Listening to the experts debating the dwindling fortunes of the European auto mobile industry in these times of crisis was very revealing. One word that kept cropping up in the discussion was “la classe moyenne” (the middle class) – the main reason being that this was the social class that was most hit by the economic crisis and that risked changing its purchasing habits.

The vehicle industry turns out to be an interesting laboratory for assessment. Vehicles are either a utility or a luxury depending on how you see them but in any case, the vehicle industry needs to get a good feel of its clients and their needs if they want to keep selling new models. The first interesting observation I noted was that when clients buy a car they do not give price the highest priority. There’s a load of technical details that come before the consideration of price.

There’s that and there’s the very remarkable statement regarding the fad retro models – from VW Beetle to FIAT’s 500 to the Mini Minor to the new 2CV Citroen that is being launched at this year’s salon. According to one of the speakers the kitsch attraction of these cars allowed manufacturers to price them way above the actual cost. The 500 for example costs very little to produce and the final sale price is nowhere near the original production cost. Yet people rushed to buy these cars – and it seems that they still do.

Then there was Renault and their subsidiary Dacia. When Renault bought the Romanian company Dacia their intention was to sell these cars in Eastern Europe. The line of Dacia cars is basic and their entry price is very accessible. What Renault did not expect is for Dacia to do very well in France and Europe. Exceptionally well. Which would seem to contradict the fact that clients will not give price much consideration unless you also consider that the Dacia line seems to guarantee a sturdy reliability at a good value. All the marketing experts at Renault failed to predict the success of this car – they failed to understand what the middle class really wanted.  In the case of the Dacia the success came more of a hindsight than as an inspired marketing move.

What about the middle class then? Well the middle class is in trouble all over the place. The middle class in Europe was sold a dream that fit cleanly into a mixture of consumerism and government cushioning. The key to the growth of the middle class was linked with more spending and a constant pressure on one’s conception of “status” – what Alain de Botton famously described as Status Anxiety back in 2004. It is a bit worrying then that the classe moyenne – a preferred target of the automobile industry in times of recession – is in more than a bit of status crisis itself.

Which makes it all the more baffling that the very notion of “middle class” is being sold as something to aspire for by at least one of our political parties for the next election. Go figure.