Scents and sensibilities

It's easy to mock when people in the grip of identity crises try ludicrously corny comforts like Harley-Davidsons, Botox and obsessive marathon running. It turns out countries' identity crises can be no less absurd.

- Jane Clifton

France, suffering prolonged political instability and a troubling breakdown of long-treasured culinary traditions, has resorted to a croissant-scented postage stamp.

Disregarding the decline of snail mail and the naffness of scratch-and-sniff gimmickry, the French post office has issued 600,000-plus stamps featuring a croissant au beurre, smelling of butter, vanilla and general boulangerie ambience. La Poste has stated in all seriousness that it hopes this will unite the nation.

It certainly makes the resignation and near-immediate reinstatement of the latest (at press time, anyway) French Prime Minister seem less wacky.

But the stamp is also a plaintive response to the accelerating decline of France's food culture in favour of fast food, typified by the predation of German grocery giant Lidl on the sacrosanct tradition of the from-scratch, daily-baked artisan baguette. Lidl has priced its products - let's tactfully call them breadsticks - artificially cheaply, and they are accelerating the demise of traditional bakeries.