Tunisian Immigrant Wins Paris’s Best Baguette Award, Will Supply Élysée Palace

Baking has no secrets for Makram Akrout. On Saturday, he won the prize for the "best baguette in Paris" among 122 baguettes, thanks to his recipe: a well-browned crust, an airy crumb and the scent of fermentation... At the announcement of the competition results, there is a rush to the bakery on Boulevard de Reuilly in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. "The hardest part is not the reward, it’s the years of work," he testifies. He will now deliver the Élysée Palace every morning.

This son of a Tunisian baker arrived in France 19 years ago at the age of 23. "I immediately thought that this is where I had a future," he says. He worked for six years as an apprentice baker, undocumented. He had notably worked in the winning bakery in 2019, just a few steps from the shop he opened only six months ago. "It’s a beautiful story full of hope, for those who arrive in France, for these people who have gold in their fingers, a know-how that is valued, a story that is a model, that should make us question the welcome and that we must cherish," said Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie, mayor (EEL