New food developments in Europe

“Europe has never existed” according to Jean Monnet, quoted in The New Europeans (1). “It is not the addition of national sovereignities in a conclave which creates an entity. One must genuinely create Europe.” This observation was a political one but it indicates also the difficulty of identifying developments in Europe as a whole. Some food service cohesion may be anticipated through European agencies. For example, the 18 member countries of the Council of Europe are being asked to adopt clean food rules (2) for restaurants as well as shops and markets. In considering food service in the European context, I emphasise at the outset, however, that I can only refer to trends of which I know. Equally that I must ignore many parts of Europe from ignorance or where development of hotels and food service seem to me less significant.